World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Monday
AZERBAIJAN: JOINT NGO LETTER TO INTERPOL: PREVENT MISUSE OF INTERPOL
IN THE CASE OF LEYLA AND ARIF YUNUS
GENEVA, Switzerland
The following information was released by the World Organisation
Against Torture (OMCT):
RE: Prevent misuse of INTERPOL in the case of Leyla and Arif Yunus
We, the undersigned organisations call on INTERPOL, and all other
relevant bodies and authorities to act with due diligence in
accordance with INTERPOL's constitution to prevent the misuse of
INTERPOL alerts against Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov, two prominent
human rights defenders from Azerbaijan. The couple currently resides
in exile in the Netherlands, where they were granted refugee status in
2016. Detailed information about their human rights activism can be
found below. INTERPOL's constitution, prohibits the misuse of its
systems for political purposes and in ways that violate human rights.
Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov were arrested on 30 July and on 5
August 2014 respectively. Azerbaijani authorities prosecuted both on
politically motivated charges of large-scale fraud, while also
charging Leyla with bogus forgery, tax evasion, and illegal
entrepreneurship offences. In August 2015, a court sentenced Leyla
Yunusova to eight and half years imprisonment, and Arif Yunusov to
seven, having convicted them of tax evasion and other economic crimes.
Authorities also filed treason charges against them both, but later
suspended the investigation.
On 9 December 2015, Leyla Yunusova was released from detention and her
8.5-year prison sentence was converted into 5 year suspended sentence,
following a decision by the Baku City Court of Appeal on the basis of
a request from her lawyers with reference to her deteriorating health
condition. Similarly, Arif Yunusov's prison term was changed to a
5-year suspended sentence. He was placed under house arrest on 12
November 2015.[1] In April 2016 the Azerbaijani government allowed the
couple to travel abroad to receive needed medical treatment for
conditions they had developed during their prison ordeal.
Due to the politically motivated nature of their prosecution, in
spring 2016 the couple received political asylum in the Netherlands.
When Leyla and Arif left Azerbaijan, their cassation appeal was still
pending before the Supreme Court. On 27 December 2016, the Supreme
Court sent the case back for re-examination to the Baku Appeal Court.
On 17 May 2017, at the hearing at the Baku Appeal Court, the Yunus's
lawyer asked the court to ensure the couple's participation in the
proceedings via Internet. The court rejected the petition. The same
day, the court ordered the couple to return to the country to
participate in the subsequent court hearings in their case. The court
hearing was rescheduled from 31 May to 3 July 2017.
The arrest of Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov happened against the
backdrop of a rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in
Azerbaijan. Since 2014, several dozens of human rights defenders,
lawyers and journalists and opposition politicians have been arrested
and prosecuted on politically-motivated grounds. The arrests and other
steps by the government of Azerbaijan have served to severely close
the space for independent activism, critical journalism, and
opposition political activity in the country.
Azerbaijan has been ranking as Not Free in the Freedom in the World
rankings of the Freedom House [2] for several years, scoring the
lowest on the political rights and civil liberties. In the latest
Freedom of the Press rankings Azerbaijan scored the 162nd place out of
180 countries.[3]
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recently
concluded an official visit to Azerbaijan. In a statement issued at
the end of its visit, the Working Group concluded that human rights
defenders, journalists, and political and religious leaders continue
to be detained on criminal or administrative charges in the country as
a way to impair their exercise of basic human rights and fundamental
freedoms and to silence them. The Working Group stressed that these
practices constitute abuse of authority and violate the principle of
the rule of law that Azerbaijan has undertaken to comply with. One of
the cases highlighted by the Working Group is that of Leyla Yunusova
and Arif Yunusov. In his recent report to the Human Rights Council,
the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders,
Michel Forst also drew attention to the legal persecution of human
rights defenders in Azerbaijan. [4]
An official request has been made to INTERPOL on by the
European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), which represents the
couple, to inquire about the existence of any alerts made against
Leyla and Arif Yunus by the Azerbaijani Government and to request
INTERPOL to take all appropriate steps to prevent the dissemination of
such an alert. Taking into consideration the very poor human rights
record in Azerbaijan and the routine practice of politically-motivated
prosecutions by the authorities, any attempt by the Azerbaijani
authorities to use INTERPOL alerts against Leyla Yunusova and Arif
Yunusov would violate the prohibition in INTERPOL's constitution
against the misuse of its systems for political purposes and in ways
that violate human rights. INTERPOL should therefore refuse any
request from the Azerbaijani authorities to use the INTERPOL
Information System against Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov, and we
call on all relevant national bodies and authorities not to act on
INTERPOL alerts against them, in case they are issued.
Short biographies:
Leyla Yunusova is a long time human rights defender and activist since
the late Soviet era. She is the director of the Institute for Peace
and Democracy, a human rights organization in Azerbaijan that focused
on political prisoners, women's rights and other issues. For almost 30
years Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov have been involved in compiling
comprehensive lists of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. Leyla
Yunusova is a Knight of the French Legion of Honor, winner of the
International Theodor Hacker award, Laureate of the Polish Sergio
Vieira de Mello Award and a finalist of the 2014 Sakharov Prize of the
European Parliament.
Arif Yunusov is a prominent Azerbaijani historian and human rights
activist. He is the chairperson of the Conflict and Migration
departments at the Institute for Peace and Democracy. Throughout his
career Arif has published over 30 books and several articles on the
history of Azerbaijan and on Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. In his
work he has promoted dialogue between intellectuals from Azerbaijan
and Armenia, and for many years has advocated for a peaceful
resolution of the conflict in Nagorno Karabakh. He has supported
numerous victims of torture and spoken out repeatedly against
politically motivated detentions.
The list of signatory organisations:
1.Amnesty International
2.Association UMDPL (Ukraine)
3.Bir Duino
4.Centre for the Development of Democracy and Human Rights
5.Committee Against Torture
6.Crude Accountability
7.Fair Trials
8.OMCT and FIDH under the "Observatory for the Protection of Human
Rights Defenders"
9.Freedom Files
10.Front Line Defenders
11.Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
12.Human Rights House Foundation
13.Human Rights Watch
14.Index on Censorship
15.International Partnership for Human Rights
16.Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS)
17.Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and the Rule of Law
18.KRF Public Alternative
19.Legal Policy Research Centre
20.Public Verdict
21.Regional Center for Strategic Studies
22.The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House
23.The Georgian Centre for Psychosocial and Medical Rehabilitation of
Torture Victims
24.The Netherlands Helsinki Committee
25.Women of the Don
[1] Campaign Stand4HumanRightsDefenders, Human Rights and Democracy
Network
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__stand4humanrightsdefenders.eu_featured-2DLeyla-2Dand-2DArif-2DYunus.php&d=DwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=QQUm_gzztVvVcsQ0wcH32t4RvTy1RstgF5RikkmRD7U&s=MuiTUCYfJhYrlzZfw2AfBChpAJY9cwxO_nNmPPDfc14&e=
[2] Freedom in the World 2017
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__freedomhouse.org_report_freedom-2Dworld_2017_azerbaijan&d=DwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=QQUm_gzztVvVcsQ0wcH32t4RvTy1RstgF5RikkmRD7U&s=Q04xtrxTlxcJFy0qLXjHYXGPNzYA872hV0eOdh2a-aw&e=
[3] Reporters without Borders, 2017
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__rsf.org_en_azerbaijan&d=DwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=QQUm_gzztVvVcsQ0wcH32t4RvTy1RstgF5RikkmRD7U&s=faf3UrXn4SQzuUvoYbPvNkNADXNYR924MMMBNNRBcLY&e=
[4] "Human rights defenders call for action on Azerbaijan", 10 March
2017,
.
