Azerbaijan: Human Rights Defenders Are Sentenced

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/world/asia/azerbaijan-human-rights-defenders-are-sentenced.html

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A court on Thursday convicted a human rights defender and her husband on fraud charges, prompting denunciations from rights groups. The court sentenced the woman, Leyla Yunus, to eight and a half years in prison and her husband, Arif Yunus, to seven years, and it confiscated their assets. Both had pleaded not guilty. Amnesty International contends that the charges were fabricated in retaliation for the couple’s human rights work and criticism of the government.