Azeri rights activist arrested for spying, tax evasion

Leyla Yunus, head of the non-governmental Peace and Democracy Institute, was arrested yesterday on a series of charges, including high treason, tax evasion and fraud, the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Ministry of National Security said in a joint statement.

Yunus, along with her husband Arif Yunus, has been working with Armenian intelligence since 2002, according to the statement posted on the website of the Prosecutor-General’s Office. 

Intelligence gathering for Armenia, with which Azerbaijan is technically at war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh, also involved Rauf Mirqadirov, a politics correspondent with Russian-language daily Zerkalo, the statement read.  

Mirqadirov was deported from Turkey in April and arrested upon arrival in Baku on a charge of high treason. He denies the charge.

Leyla Yunus was also engaged illegal entrepreneurship and hid almost 370,000 manat ($472,000) from tax authorities, the prosecutors said.

Defense lawyer Cavad Cavadov said the charges are political and will be appealed against.

Bakudaily.az