Leyla Yunus about a meeting with Secretary General of the Council of Europe

According to the lists of the Institute for Peace and Democracy (IPD), there are 130 political prisoners in Azerbaijan  current, including 40 "prisoners of conscience ." IPD insists on their immediate release; this position was expressed  by the   IMD director Leyla Yunus at a meeting of civil society activists with the CE’s  Secretary General, Thorbjorn Jagland .

During the meeting the defenders passed Jagland a list of 30 political prisoners who should be released immediately, and for 70 people who should have repeated court trials.

In an interview with Turan, Yunus said she did not share this view. She is against the division of political prisoners in groups, that one must be  immediately released , and others later .

In the absence of an independent judiciary one should not hope for  fair reconsideration of the lawsuits, says Yunus. She said that after Azerbaijan’s joined the Council of Europe, there were  repetitive processes which resulted in a new condemnation of political prisoners.

Besides, Yunus did not agree with the list of 30 political prisoners , as the journalist Rauf Mirkadirov  and activist Anar Mammadov were not included the list.

At a meeting with Yagland, Yunus also said that PACE members who rejected the resolution in January by Christoph Strasser on political prisoners in Azerbaijan  are responsible for  such a large number of political prisoners. After just 10 days of that rejection  there were arrests of Ilgar Mamedov and Tofig Yagublu  and within a year another 30 activists.

In her view,  a lawsuit against Rauf Mirkadirov was filed in order to arrest her . " Rauf Mirkadirov  accused of transferring certain information to  Laura Baghdasaryan , who jointly with the IPD implemented  projects for years," said Yunus. -06B-