Azerbaijani newspaper correspondent and political analyst Rauf Mirkadirov received political refugee status in Switzerland, Mirkadirov told Turan.

The journalist was arrested on April 19, and on charges of espionage. He is accused of working with Armenia’s special services. The Prosecutor’s Office claims he had met with the representatives of Armenian intelligence and carried out their instructions.

Prosecutors claimed Mirkadirov was “recruited” as a spy by prominent Azerbaijani rights activist Leyla Yunus and her husband, Arif Yunus. Leyla and Arif Yunus were jailed and sentenced to lengthy prison terms after being convicted of fraud and other crimes in a trial widely denounced as a travesty, but have since been released from custody on health grounds.

Mirkadirov himself had been arrested in Turkey and extradited Azerbaijan without any grounds.