After a Baku, Azerbaijan court sentenced human rights defenders Leyla and Arif Yunus to 8,5 years and seven years, respectively, in prison, Helsinki Commission Chair Rep. Chris Smith issued the following statement:
“I condemn today’s harsh sentencing of Leyla and Arif Yunus, two human rights activists who drew attention to the government’s repression of political dissent. Both Leyla and Arif are very ill and have already endured almost a year in pre-trial detention. Sentencing them to further time in jail is hardly better than a death sentence. The charges brought against the Yunuses for their peaceful efforts on behalf of many other political prisoners – including journalists and lawyers – are yet another indication that the Government of Azerbaijan is out to erase all forms of free expression and dissent.”
Leyla and Arif Yunus were charged with tax evasion and other economic crimes, and are also facing separate charges of treason for their work advocating reconciliation with Armenia. Both are in poor health and their detention and trials have been marred by consistent government harassment, including disbarring and dismissing their lawyers. At the sentencing today, Leyla Yunus expressed her clear understanding of the political motivation behind the charges against them: "This government is afraid of a word. This trial showed that all of you are afraid of words. This is why you chose to hold this trial behind closed doors, not letting any journalists come in and do their reporting. You have issued a death sentence for us. Because neither mine, nor Arif's health will let us stay in jail for a long time." -0-
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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He expressed his willingness to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev at the border between the two countries. "A meeting with Ilham Aliyev could take place at the Armenian-Azerbaijani border. I am open to such a format," Pashinyan said at a press conference today. According to Pashinyan, Armenia recently presented another proposal for a peace treaty to Azerbaijan.
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On August 31, Azerbaijan observes a "day of silence" before the Sunday’s early parliamentary elections for the unicameral Milli Majlis. All electoral campaigning is prohibited 24 hours before the voting. The early elections were initiated by the ruling Yeni Azerbaijan Party. This decision was motivated by the overlap of the scheduled elections in November with the global UN forum - the COP20 climate conference taking place in Baku.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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