Azerbaijan frees jailed historian over poor health

Yunus, 60, who’s suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes, was told to serve the rest of his seven-year sentence at home, Elcin Sadiqov, his lawyer, said by phone Thursday.

The court in Baku rejected a request to free Yunus’s wife Leyla, who heads the Peace and Democracy Institute, a non-governmental organization, and was jailed for 8.5 years at the

same trial in August. She’s also suffering from poor health and a further appeal for her will be lodged, Sadiqov said.

The couple were arrested in August last year, accused of fraud, tax evasion and illegal entrepreneurship. They rejected the charges as politically motivated.