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Leyla Yunus has been
in pretrial detention for nearly three months. She says she has been beaten and denied medical care for diabetes and other ailments. |
By Shahnaz Huseynova and Daisy Sindelar October 20, 2014
On October 21, the European Parliament will
announce the 17th annual Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought, a distinction
that comes with a 50,000 euro award ($64,000) and entry to a select club
of some of the world's most respected human rights defenders.
In the case of Leyla
Yunus, one of this year's finalists, the prize holds another potential benefit:
pressure on the Azerbaijani court system, which is set this week to determine
if the 58-year old activist will remain behind bars to face trial on charges
-- dismissed by supporters as bogus -- of treason and espionage.
Yunus, the head of the
Baku-based Institute for Peace and Democracy and an outspoken government
critic, has already spent nearly three months in pretrial detention, where
she complained of being physically beaten and denied medical care for
diabetes and other ailments.
On October 20,
authorities appeared to ratchet up the pressure by abruptly transferring Yunus
to a detention facility run by the Ministry of National Security, which is
notorious for use of torture and other coercive tactics. Yunus's 59-year-old
husband, Arif -- a well-known historian and activist in his own right -- is
being held in the same facility on charges similar to hers.
The unexpected transfer
is seen as an attempt to further isolate Yunus, and comes just days before a
court hearing on whether to extend her pretrial detention. The remand hearing
is scheduled to be held this week, although an exact date has not been
set.
By law, Security
Ministry officials are required to explain the need for a transfer before any
move is made. But lawyer Alayif Hasanov told RFE/RL that he received no prior
notification about the relocation.
"The officials are
meant to provide both us and the person being transferred with an explanation
for the transfer and whether it's a matter of urgency," Hasanov said.
"Based on that explanation, we can determine how reasonable or urgent the
transfer was. But there's been no explanation."
Yunus's legal team expressed concern that the
ministry's tighter restrictions on food and medicine deliveries may further
compromise Yunus's health. Lawyer Khalid Bagirov expressed cautious hope that a
positive announcement from the European Parliament could bring pressure to bear
on authorities in Baku.
"The Sakharov Prize is one of the most
serious prizes in Europe, but I can't say how seriously the Azerbaijani
government views it," he said. "I want to hope that if she's awarded
the Sakharov Prize, Leyla Yunus will be set free."
'Track Two' Diplomacy
Yunus, who has taken on corruption, domestic
violence, and unlawful evictions over the course of her career, has run afoul
of the Azerbaijani government more than once. But her current charges -- linked
to her work promoting so-called "track two" diplomacy, or person-to-person
contact, between Azerbaijan and archenemy Armenia -- are especially grave,
and could carry a sentence of 15 years to life if Yunus is convicted.
The Yunuses' arrests come amid a sweeping
crackdown in Azerbaijan against journalists, lawyers, and other government
critics. In recent months, the oil-rich regime of President Ilham Aliyev has
arrested at least 11 activists on political charges despite assuming the
rotating chairmanship of the Council of Europe, the European region's foremost
human rights body, in May.
Advocacy groups have slammed the government case
against the Yunuses. In an October 18 press release, Human Rights Watch called
on authorities to immediately release the couple and drop the charges against
them, denouncing the case as "a travesty and a clear attempt by the
Azerbaijan government to silence them with bogus charges."
Yunus, who has published several open letters to
her husband since their detention, has written passionately about the
government's campaign, and has expressed mounting fear that she and her
husband, who suffers from heart disease, may not live to see their
release.
In her latest letter,
published the same day as her transfer, she wrote, "I clearly understand
their goal is not just destruction, but brutal torture, insults, and physical
torment, when death becomes the desired escape from the terrible suffering.
This is our reality, and I clearly realize it. In other words, our work
received the highest mark on the highest scale."
The international community has traditionally
offered only mild criticism of Baku's rights record, prompting allegations that
Azerbaijan is using its energy riches to peddle influence abroad.
Notable exceptions include the European Court of
Human Rights, which on October 11 granted priority status to the Yunuses' case
against their arrest, and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative,
which on October 15 ordered Azerbaijan to undergo a review of its civil society
standards by the start of 2015.
The couple's daughter, Dinara, who has lived in
Amsterdam since receiving political asylum in the Netherlands, says the
Sakharov Prize could help provide additional leverage against the Aliyev
regime.
"It might have an influence on her case,
and it would also show the world what's really going on in Azerbaijan and how
many political prisoners there are," she says. "I'm afraid that if
she doesn't win, she won't have that protection from the Europarliament. The
Sakharov Prize would give her protection in front of the Azeri government."
Yunus, who was nominated for the Sakharov Prize
by the European Parliament's Green Party faction, is considered a dark horse in
the race, where Ukraine's Euromaidan protest movement and Denis Mukwege, a
doctor crusading against rape in the Congo, have been backed by larger
factions.
The fates of past Sakharov laureates, however,
indicate that the prize is not always accompanied by better conditions at home.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, received the Sakharov Prize in
1990 but was only able to collect the award after her release from house arrest
20 years later.
Other Sakharov prize-winners continue to face
oppression, including the Belarusian Association of Journalists, Iranian lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh,
and the Russian rights group Memorial -- founded and led by Sakharov himself --
which is facing current efforts by the Justice Ministry to liquidate its
operations.
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