Baku, Azerbaijan, July 31
By Ilkin Izzet - Trend:
Human rights activist Leyla Yunusova and her husband Arif Yunusov are accused of secret collaboration with some citizens to coordinate with representatives of Armenian special services, according to the joint information disseminated by the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of National Security.
"Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov established relations among some Azerbaijani citizens, whose names were not disclosed, and the representatives of the Armenian special services to bring them to the secret activity," according to the statement. "They performed their task in gathering information for using it against Azerbaijan, including the current socio-political situation in the country, as well as in the fields of industry, energy, military-technical support, propaganda of the need to recognize the independence of the far-fetched "Nagorno-Karabakh regime" in exchange for the liberation of the occupied territories."
Earlier, it was reported that Azerbaijani citizen Rauf Mirkadirov suspected of high treason and espionage, namely, deliberate assistance to the representatives of the Armenian special services was arrested on April 19, 2014. The preliminary investigation on the filed criminal case is underway.
He was prosecuted under Article 274 of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic (high treason) on April 21. A preventive measure in the form of arrest was chosen against Mirkadirov upon the decision of the Nasimi district court, according to the report.
Leyla Yunusova is a chairperson and a founder of an unregistered organization called "Institute for Peace and Democracy". The investigative bodies revealed that Yunusova and this organization together with David Shahnazaryan, Lara Bagdasarian and others under the pretext of implementing joint projects in the field of "people's diplomacy" between the Region research center and other NGOs of Armenia and to the detriment of Azerbaijan have considered the personal qualities of the citizens to recruit them since 2002.
While making sure of the interested motives of citizens, Leyla Yunusova with Arif Yunusov organized Rauf Mirkadirov's numerous trips to Armenia via Georgia, according to the report.
This activity was carried out in exchange for the grant funds received from the international donor organizations, the funds transferred from the UK bank by Karen Aghajanyan in 2002, as well as huge remittances from the Armenian NGO "Journalists' Investigation" and the bank in Yerevan, according to a statement.
During these trips Rauf Mirkadirov with Arif Yunusov, who accompanied him during the trips, met with Armenian former Minister of National Security David Shahnazaryan and representatives of other organizations controlled by the special services, according to the report.
As a result of these trips Rauf Mirkadirov managed to give maps with the exact location and photos of Azerbaijani military units, airfields and other military units of strategic importance to the representatives of the Armenian intelligence agencies, according to a statement.
Leyla Yunusova wrote false information in the official registration documents of the NGO "Azerbaijani women for peace and democracy in the Caucasus" on November 21, 2002, which passed the state registration on March 27, 1996. She wrote that she was allegedly the director of the NGO and was entitled to conduct banking transactions with the account of the organization in "Unibank", according to the report.
She received checkbooks from "Unibank" in accordance with the forged documents. These checkbooks are accounting documents. A total of 167,199 manat, $620,878,263,745 euros were transferred to this NGO from such donor organizations as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the German Marshall Fund and others from 2006 to 2014. These funds were illegally cashed, according to the report.
While carrying out illegal entrepreneurship, Yunusova obtained profit through grant agreements amounting to 526,943 manat. She evaded taxes in the amount of 369,378 manat, according to the report.
Leyla Yunusova cashed $88,468 of $88,910 transferred from such donor organizations as the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the German Marshall Fund and OSİ Assistance Foundation to the bank account of NGO "Azerbaijani women for peace and democracy in the Caucasus" from 2009 to 2012, according to the report.
She transferred $71,000 of this amount to her personal bank account. On April 24, 2014 she transferred money with interest to her husband Arif Yunusov's account in the same bank, which accounted for a total of $78,130. These funds were immediately transferred to Arif Yunusov's personal account in Czech commercial bank "Sberbank CZ".
Despite Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov being repeatedly summoned to testify, they refused to appear in the Prosecutor General's Office under different pretexts. On July 25, 2014, a decision was made to bring them to the investigative bodies compulsorily in accordance with Article 178 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, according to the statement.
On July 30, 2014, Leyla Yunusova was accused under articles 274, 178.3.2, 192.2.2, 213.2.2, 320.1 and 320.2, Arif Yunusov - under Articles 274 and 178.3.2 of the Criminal Code, according to the report.
Taking into account the fact that Leyla Yunusova tried to leave the country, not to testify without a valid reason and illegally pressured Matanat Azizova and others questioned as witnesses in the case, a preventive measure in the form of arrest was chosen for Leyla Yunusova upon a decision of the Nasimi district court. Taking into account Arif Yunusov's health, a preventive measure in the form of law enforcement surveillance was chosen for him.
In a joint statement of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of National Security, defendants Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov's rights for legal aid, lawyer's services, envisaged by the criminal procedural legislation were ensured.
A criminal procedure law was not violated during the investigation, the report underlines.
The investigation is underway. All actions of Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov will be legally assessed. The public will be informed about the results of the investigation.
Criminal investigation continues, all the actions and Leila Arif Yunusov will be given legal assessment of the results of the investigation public will be informed later.
Human rights activist Leyla Yunusova and her husband Arif Yunusov were arrested by law enforcement bodies of Azerbaijan on Wednesday. They were charged with high treason, Yunusova's lawyer Javad Javadov told Trend.
"Leyla Yunusova is charged under four articles of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic - 274 (high treason), 178 (fraud), 213 (tax evasion), 192 (illegal business), Arif Yunusov charged under two articles of the Criminal Code - 274 (high treason) and 178 (fraud)," he said.
"Arif Yunusov gave a written undertaking not to leave a place," the lawyer added. "Leyla Yunusova was taken to the Nasimi District Court of Baku for a preventive measure in the form of arrest."
Human rights activist Leyla Yunusova and her husband Arif Yunusov were repeatedly invited as witnesses to testify in a criminal case, considered in the Heinous Crime Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan. But they deliberately did not appear to testify, the Prosecutor General's Office reported earlier.
Leyla Yunusova with her husband Arif Yunusov intended to leave the country on April 28, trying to evade investigation. This attempt was prevented.