Arif Yunus, the husband of recently arrested human rights defender Leyla Yunus has most likely seen many things in his life. But he has certainly never thought, his family would be the target of not only trumped up charges but also smear campaigns.
In a statement yesterday [August 2], Arif Yunus expressed his concern over government’s attempt to further humiliate his family. A fake account in the name of their daughter Dinara Yunus, was discovered on a popular Russian social network “V Kontakte” disseminating statements and updates of sabotaging nature. “You arrested my mother, tormented my father, now let your soldiers die bastards. I hate you all. More disasters await you” read one of the fake status updates distributed by pro- government media platforms.
“Today, on August 2nd, I haven’t really contacted anyone- I have taken some food and medicine to my wife, and later was at the police station. I only had a chance to read news in the evening and was informed about the terrible provocative of our special services. They have created a page on “V Kontakte” under my daughter’s name, Dinara Yunusova who is currently based in Holland. They have been using her name to distribute materials of libelous nature. That information and those materials have nothing to do with my daughter. She wasn’t even aware of this! I officially declare that all the material shared via that fake page is nothing but the work of Azerbaijan’s special forces and is disinformation, which has nothing to do neither with me, nor my daughter. We strongly condemn this primitive provocation” read the statement shared by Arif Yunus.
Also yesterday, another youth activist was kidnapped. Ruslan Nesirli, member of youth wing of the Azerbaijan Popular Front party was seen being “taken” by plain clothed men. Although originally it was reported he was being taken to the police, the whereabouts of the young man are still unknown. His father was taken hostage earlier and was released soon after the son was taken (with his whereabouts still unknown). Nesirli, is the author of an action campaign that he created on Facebook, calling on the president of Azerbaijan- Supreme Commander in-Chief to report to the public about the recent fallen soldiers on the front line.
