07/05/2014 (Agence Europe) - Baku criticises EU joint statement. On Tuesday 6 May, the spokesperson for Azerbaijan's Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Elman Abdullayev, criticised the EU joint statement that denounced the intensification of pressure against human rights and reconciliation activists (see EUROPE 11072). According to Azeri media, Abdullayev expressed the view that the statement was of a “political nature” and fell “short of the reality on the ground”. The statement “attempts to distort the true sense of the legal proceedings instituted with regard to Rauf Mirgadirov and the call of Leyla Yunusova and Arif Yunusov as witnesses in this process”, he said, stating that the investigation was not linked to their journalistic or social activities. “While the case is under the investigation, any early judgments and politically motivated statements are nothing but attempts to interfere into and exert pressure on the investigation. It is also absolutely unacceptable from the rule of law's point of view”, Abdullayev added. (CG)