Thank you for our angel-savior!

Exactly one year ago, on November 12, 2015 the court decided to release me because of my health. A month later, on 9 December was released my wife - Leila, when the court  replaced the  7 and 8.5 years sentence, respectively,  with the "conditional"  sentence on  probation for 5 years. On April 18, 2016, we left the country. Then media wrote a lot how heads of the leading Western countries, and international and human rights organizations participated in ours release.

It really was,  and we are deeply grateful to all who helped and contributed to our release. However,  in history often  the people who played  leading role in various events often  remain in shadows.   In our case such a man  is the German Dr. Christian Witt.

His candidacy was the result of long and complex diplomatic negotiations of the European Parliament with Baku, when the Europeans rejected the candidacy of doctors from Hungary, and Greece, and the Azerbaijani authorities did not agree with the proposed doctors from France and Holland.

First time Dr.Witt arrived in Baku on December 28-30, 2014 and visited Leila in custody. Then, in January-August 2015, he four times visited  Leila, who had a whole bunch of serious health problems (diabetes, hepatitis C, vision, etc.) Thanks to Dr. Witt, and  the drugs he brought (one of which was experimental and is not yet available for general use), it was possible to stop the process of destruction of the liver and begin treatment for hepatitis C.

In late October, 2015 after a theatrical farce called "trial", Dr. Witt has once again arrived in Azerbaijan. This time, he finally was allowed to visit me. October 30, we first time met in the presence of a doctor and Ministry of security personnel. Our meeting was short, about half an hour. Then the doctor for four hours (!!!) withstood strong pressure from the authorities; they  demanded  from him to change the medical report which said that  I may die at any time in

However, the presidential administration failed to break to break the German doctor. The authorities have realized that he is not official, who could  write anything they want; and he is not a  politician who can agree to compromise on political and other reasons.  For the first time authorities met the doctor  who values his  professional reputation and remembers the Hippocratic Oath.

After that, I immediately felt a change: the very next day the chief of the detention center of the MNS  came to me, and  they brought a  heating device to my ward. The following day, on 2 November, I was transferred to a specialized medical institution of the Ministry of Justice,  not to the general ward, but to an individual room with a refrigerator and a separate shower. Finally, after 15 months, I could take a bath as a normal man, and a few days later, on November 12 I was released.

At the beginning of December 2015 Dr.Witt again arrived in Baku and professionally explained to the authorities that the death of Leila in conclusion is inevitable, and a few days later, on December 9, she was also released from prison.

On April 18 we left Azerbaijan, and immediately came to Berlin to Dr. Witt clinic "Charite". The treatment began, and it went hard. Once I fainted and fell in the corridor  of the clinic. Luckily there were  two nurses who  urgently took me to the ward on a drip. The x-ray pictures  of my head made in  "Charité" confirmed the presence of tumor in the back of the head - the result of beatings and torture in the jail of the  MNS. This tumor is still a source of constant and severe pain, because of which I occasionally lose consciousness.

 The treatment process is continuing, but it is another question. The doctor  Witt did the main thing – he saved us from death. Many thanks to him, our dear Angel-Savior!

Arif Yunus

November 12, 2016