Arif Yunus
Head of the Department of Conflict and
Migration Institute of Peace and Democracy
Ph.D. in History and conflicts,
Member of the Council of the Association
for Human Rights in Central Asia,
Members of the Association for Human Rights in Central Asia express
their respect and congratulate our colleague, a prisoner of conscience, Arif Yunus
on his birthday. On 12 January 2015 he turned 60 years old.
Since 5 August 2014 Arif Yunus is held in the detention centre of the
Ministry of Security of Azerbaijan. He is isolated and held in conditions
comparable to abuse and it is undermining his health. His blood pressure often
rises. The complete absence of information about the prisoner's wife and lack
of perspectives of justice brought depression and it is having a tall on his health.
Shortly before his arrest, he was in the hospital with a diagnosis of pre-stoke
condition. Petitions of lawyers to change the measure of restraint went
unheeded.
His wife, Leyla Yunus is in pre-trial detention centre of Baku. According
to people who have seen her recently, she was reported to have a great
difficulty in moving because of immobility of her left leg, her eye-sight is
getting worse. Her body is exhausted and practically no longer can take any food.
During the five months of imprisonment of Arif and Leyla Yunus, three
lawyers were taken off the case only for the fact that they fulfilled their
professional duties. Over the entire period of the imprisonment, the investigator
carried out only one interview; at all other times, the course of the
investigation is not clear either to the detainees or their lawyers.
The Association for Human Rights in Central Asia - AHRCA calls on the UN
High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Special Rapporteur on Torture and the
Special Rapporteur of the European Union for Human Rights, the European
Commissioner for Human Rights and the governments of the democratic community
to press for immediate release of Arif and Leyla Yunus. We also urge the US Ambassador
to Azerbaijan to pay special attention to the situation of the prisoners Arif and
Leyla Yunus because of deterioration of their health.
We ask the US Ambassador to make the terms of their release clear –
there is no investigation and there should not be one.
