Court of Appeal Leaves Arif Yunus in Custody

The Baku Court of Appeal chaired by Abid Abdinbekov dismissed the complaint brought by the conflict expert Arif Yunus about the extension of his arrest until August 5.

As the lawyer Afghan Mammadov told Turan, Yunus declared illegal the extension of his arrest, as well as the prosecution itself.

In this case, Yunus pointed to special diligence of the judge Babak Panahov at the Nasimi District Court in the decision to extend the arrest.

The lawyer also considers unreasonable the unfair extension of the detention. The investigation motivated this by standard wording that, remaining free, the accused "can hide from the investigation and use his authority to influence the witnesses."

The lawyer also pointed out that any active investigation against Yunus is not carried out.

The detention has a negative impact on the health of Yunus, who suffered a hypertensive crisis before his arrest and suffers from cardiovascular disease.

* Yunus was arrested on August 5, 2014, a week after the arrest of his wife, human rights activist Leyla Yunus. The couple is accused of espionage in favor of Armenia. Amnesty International has recognized them as "prisoners of conscience".   -03 / 06B-