A letter of desperation and sorrow from political prisoner, human rights advocate Leyla Yunus to her husband.
My dear Arif,
Yesterday on September 11, I clearly realized that authorities set a goal to destroy me physically by using humiliation, tortures and beatings. Yesterday Nuriyye Huseynova assaulted me again in the period that UN representatives were on the territory of Kurdakhani in our building… After 6-7 minutes that UN representatives left our cell, Nuriyye Huseynova attacked me again. I rushed to the door and started banging it; the worker of guard personnel Nazakat Mamedova did not fulfill my request to invite UN representatives to my cell.
Besides that, the guards have doubled their efforts in mistreating me. It is very clear to me now that my physical destruction is the concrete order that was received from the President Apparatus. My body is covered in bruises. You should not allow Dinara to lose her mother and father. Dinara should have you. Please take care of yourself, do some exercises. Think about Dinara, not about me.
Arif, do you remember I was writing a book about the situation with the human rights in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan. In Uzbekistan they exposed their victims to treatments and tortures that lowered human dignity, especially with female political prisoners. In the book I wrote, such treatments would not be possible in Azerbaijan, as we have national Caucasian mentality where there is no place for humiliation towards women. How naive I was!
Not only these aliyevs, lemberanskis, qasimovs, usubovs, yaqubovs have a Caucasusian dignity of a man and mentality, but they also have no male honor or human dignity. They were born as animals, and generated monsters alike. Since Stalin times, in Azerbaijan families would not be arrested. Even in Uzbekistan, Belorussia spouses are not arrested together. Aliyev’s regime is clearly demonstrating its brutal face.
As I understand, fear has also paralyzed adherents at large. In their requests, it is not the freedom to Leyla and Intigam the opposition parties demand but the compliance of our rights in a prison…
I read and could not believe to what I have been seeing. As it is said, we arrived…
Arif please survive! Survive for Dinara.
Yours truly,
Leyla
12 September 2014
