Epress.am News from Armenia
Human rights activist Leyla Yunus (pictured) at 11:45 am today was picked up by police from her home, her husband Arif Yunusov said, reports Contact.az.
"Leyla left the house and was going to go to IRFS for a conference. The car in which she was going was attacked right in the yard. The car was stopped and three people in civilian clothes got into it. Neither Leyla Khanum nor the driver are answering [our] calls. Apparently, [the men were from] the Prosecutor General's Office," wrote Arif Yunusov.
At about 12:00 pm, Arif Yunusov reported that six people were knocking on his apartment door, threatening to break the metal door. Yunusov does not answer phone calls.
Yunusov told Turan news agency that he decided to "give up" and go with his lawyer to the Attorney General to testify. "In all likelihood, we will be arrested," he told Turan’s correspondent over the phone.
Some time later, the spouses' representative, Yusif Agayev, informed Turan news agency that Leyla Yunus was taken to the Investigation Department for Serious Crimes at the Prosecutor General's Office.
Head of the Attorney General's investigation team Ibrahim Lemberansky didn't permit Agayev to participate in the investigation, stating that only a lawyer can do this. According to the spouses' representative, this suggests that Leyla Yunus is going to be charged with an indictment.
Leyla Yunus has repeatedly said that the persecution against her is tied to the desire of the country's authorities to "expose a group of Armenian spies". She has been repeatedly questioned in the case of Azerbaijani Russian-language newspaper Zerkalo reporter Rauf Mirkadirov, who has been in custody for more than 3 months on charges of "collaborating with Armenia's secret police".