Azeri prison service denies Leyla Yunus torture claims

Yunus, head of the non-governmental Peace and Democracy Institute, was arrested in August on charges of high treason and tax evasion. She denies the charges as politically motivated.

"Leyla Yunus’s detention conditions are no different from those of other inmates,” Quliyev said. "Reports by some media about her detentions conditions are not true.”

Yunus said through her lawyers that she had come under physical and psychological pressure by her prison guards and was denied access to medical service and food.

Quliyev denied the claim, arguing that Yunus verbally attacked and shouted insults at doctors visiting her in prison.