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Global Post
July 31 2014
Azerbaijan accuses rights activist of spying for Armenia
Azerbaijani authorities alleged Thursday that a prominent human rights
activist charged with treason fraud, Leyla Yunus, collaborated with
the spy agencies of arch-enemy Armenia.
"It is established that in 2002 Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif
Yunus... had trained the journalist Rauf Mirkadirov in espionage and
has since organised several of his trips to Armenia," the Azerbaijan's
prosecutor general's office said in a statement.
It alleged that Arif Yunus, an independent political analyst, had
joined several of the trips where they met with Armenian intelligence
officials.
It charged that Mirkadirov, who was arrested and charged with treason
in April, helped Leyla and Arif Yunus pass on to Armenian intelligence
photographs of maps showing the location of military units, airfields
and other strategic sites.
Leyla Yunus, 57, an award-winning campaigner, was charged on Wednesday
with treason, tax evasion, large-scale fraud and falsifying documents,
according to her lawyer Dzhavad Dzhavadov.
Her 59-year-old husband was charged with treason and fraud.
A fierce critic of Azerbaijan's poor rights record, Leyla Yunus is
head of one of Azerbaijan's leading rights groups, the Institute for
Peace and Democracy in Baku.
She has won several foreign prizes and honours for her work.
Leyla Yunus has long worked with Armenian activists advocating the
reconciliation of the two countries, which have been locked in a
decades-long conflict over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.
The prosecutor general's office also accused Yunus of carrying out
propoganda activities aimed at getting Azerbaijan to recognise
Armenia's possession of Nagorny Karabakh following a 1988-1994
conflict that left more than 30,000 dead.
Any dissent in Azerbaijan is usually met with a tough government response.
Rights groups say the government has been clamping down on opponents
since President Ilham Aliyev's election to a third term last year.
Human Rights Watch called Thursday for the immediate release of Leyla
Yunus and her husband from pre-trial detention and for the changes
against them to be dropped.
"The context leading up to these recent charges, including the
harassment they have endured over the past four months, make it clear
that the charges against Leyla and Arif Yunus are bogus and intended
to silence them," said HRW's deputy chief for Europe and Central Asia,
Rachel Denber.
"The authorities should immediately end this campaign of intimidation
against Azerbaijan's leading human rights defenders and allow them to
work unimpeded," she said in a statement.
The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks,
on his Twitter account called the charges against Yunis a reminder of
the difficulties rights defenders face in Azerbaijan and urged the
government to comply with its human rights obligations.
eg-rl/rmb
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140731/azerbaijan-accuses-rights-activist-spying-armenia-0
July 31 2014
Azerbaijan accuses rights activist of spying for Armenia
Azerbaijani authorities alleged Thursday that a prominent human rights
activist charged with treason fraud, Leyla Yunus, collaborated with
the spy agencies of arch-enemy Armenia.
"It is established that in 2002 Leyla Yunus and her husband Arif
Yunus... had trained the journalist Rauf Mirkadirov in espionage and
has since organised several of his trips to Armenia," the Azerbaijan's
prosecutor general's office said in a statement.
It alleged that Arif Yunus, an independent political analyst, had
joined several of the trips where they met with Armenian intelligence
officials.
It charged that Mirkadirov, who was arrested and charged with treason
in April, helped Leyla and Arif Yunus pass on to Armenian intelligence
photographs of maps showing the location of military units, airfields
and other strategic sites.
Leyla Yunus, 57, an award-winning campaigner, was charged on Wednesday
with treason, tax evasion, large-scale fraud and falsifying documents,
according to her lawyer Dzhavad Dzhavadov.
Her 59-year-old husband was charged with treason and fraud.
A fierce critic of Azerbaijan's poor rights record, Leyla Yunus is
head of one of Azerbaijan's leading rights groups, the Institute for
Peace and Democracy in Baku.
She has won several foreign prizes and honours for her work.
Leyla Yunus has long worked with Armenian activists advocating the
reconciliation of the two countries, which have been locked in a
decades-long conflict over the disputed Nagorny Karabakh region.
The prosecutor general's office also accused Yunus of carrying out
propoganda activities aimed at getting Azerbaijan to recognise
Armenia's possession of Nagorny Karabakh following a 1988-1994
conflict that left more than 30,000 dead.
Any dissent in Azerbaijan is usually met with a tough government response.
Rights groups say the government has been clamping down on opponents
since President Ilham Aliyev's election to a third term last year.
Human Rights Watch called Thursday for the immediate release of Leyla
Yunus and her husband from pre-trial detention and for the changes
against them to be dropped.
"The context leading up to these recent charges, including the
harassment they have endured over the past four months, make it clear
that the charges against Leyla and Arif Yunus are bogus and intended
to silence them," said HRW's deputy chief for Europe and Central Asia,
Rachel Denber.
"The authorities should immediately end this campaign of intimidation
against Azerbaijan's leading human rights defenders and allow them to
work unimpeded," she said in a statement.
The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muiznieks,
on his Twitter account called the charges against Yunis a reminder of
the difficulties rights defenders face in Azerbaijan and urged the
government to comply with its human rights obligations.
eg-rl/rmb
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/140731/azerbaijan-accuses-rights-activist-spying-armenia-0