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Azerbaijani Human Rights Activist Released After Questioning


Azerbaijani rights advocate Leyla Yunus (screen grab)
Azerbaijani rights advocate Leyla Yunus (screen grab)
Prominent Azerbaijani human rights activist Leyla Yunus has been released from detention by authorities after she was questioned by investigators and her Baku-based Peace and Democracy Institute offices were searched.

The prosecutor-general's office in Azerbaijani capital said Yunus and her husband Arif Yunus were detained on April 28 in Baku airport because they "tried to flee the country" after being summoned as witnesses in a criminal case.

She was released the next day.

The prosecutor-general's statement, issued on April 30, did not elaborate on the criminal case. Nonetheless, it said the criminal investigation is continuing.

Yunus says investigators asked her about her ties with journalist Rauf Mirqadirov, who is currently in pretrial detention on charges of spying for Armenia.

Yunus has been actively involved for years in people-to-people diplomacy with Armenian rights activists.

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