Court Began Consideration of Appeal of Leyla and Arif Yunus

The Baku Court of Appeal on October 12 began its consideration of the appeal of Leyla Yunus and Arif Yunus against the decision of the Court of First Instance, which sentenced them to 8.5 and 7 years, respectively. The spouses require to reverse the verdict and to release them for lack of evidence.

As at previous sessions of the court, the hall was filled with the bailiffs and several foreign diplomats and media representatives were admitted.

The spouses Yunus looked exhausted and seriously ill - especially Arif, who suffers from severe pain in the head. Almost all the time he was sitting with his eyes closed, his hands squeezing his head.

Leyla Yunus had difficulty walking, leaning on a cane. Turning to the audience, she said that she was forbidden phone calls and meetings and she feels very bad.

"The representative of the Ministry of Health Iftikhar Gurbanov and the employee of the Justice Ministry Murad Mammadov forbid me to have negotiations and meetings. That is the state to which they have brought me," she said.

Then she protested the appearance of the representative of a "victim" in the room.

"In this case there are no victims. Rena Safaraliyeva and others here said they do not consider themselves victims. If not, then where did this representative come from?" she said. The judge suggested in response to file a written request.

The judge appointed the beginning of the consideration of the merits on October 15 at 15:00. -03C-