Azerbaijan frees jailed rights activist amid internationl outcry

A court in Azerbaijan has released a high-profile rights campaigner in the face of rising international criticism over the country’s human rights record.

The Baku-based appeals court on Wednesday commuted the eight-and-a-half-year prison term of Leyla Yunus to a suspended sentence, and set her free.

Yunus was convicted in August of fraud and tax evasion, charges that international rights groups have condemned as trumped-up and said she is being punished for her strong criticism of the human rights violations in the oil-rich former Soviet state.

The 59-year-old, who is reportedly suffering from a number of ailments including hepatitis C and diabetes, spent more than 16 months in prison and pre-trial detention. Yunus complained once that in September 2014 she had been severely beaten by prison guards before her trial began.

“They’ve reduced me to prison dust,” Yunus told reporters outside her house after being released on Wednesday. Reports said she went directly from the court to visit her grandfather’s grave.

Members of her defense team said Yunus should be completely acquitted and that they would appeal the five-year suspended sentence.

“We had sought Leyla’s full acquittal and will probably appeal the verdict,” said her lawyer Elchin Sadykhov.

Yunus’ husband, 60-year-old Arif Yunus, had also been sentenced to seven years in a similar case, but he was released last month due to health concerns.

Major rights groups, including the London-based Amnesty International, had repeatedly demanded the release of the couple, describing them as “prisoners of conscience.”

The administration of President Ilham Aliyev has also been accused of intensifying pressure on critical journalists, rights activists, and opponents since he was reelected in 2013.

Aliyev has been in power since 2003, when he took office after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev. The senior Aliyev, a former KGB officer and Communist-era leader, was also known for his iron-fist rule in Azerbaijan since the country became independent in 1993.

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