On 28 April 2014, Arif Yunusov and his wife Leyla were jailed on charges of extortion and treason for allegedly spying for Armenia.

Having served his position at Azeri until September 1994, Yunusov eventually became the Chief of Department of Conflictology and Migration Studies of Institute of Peace and Democracy (IPD).

[7] On 28 April 2014, Arif Yunusov and his wife Leyla were detained at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport on their way to Doha, Qatar amid a crackdown on human rights activists and journalists.

Human Rights Watch denounced their case as a show trial, and Amnesty International declared the couple prisoners of conscience.

[14][15] The detention of Arif and Leyla Yunus, as well as Rasul Jafarov, has largely been regarded as another step in the state crackdown on civil society in Azerbaijan.

[24] Leyla and Arif Yunus were allowed by Azerbaijani government to travel to the Netherlands for health treatment in April 2016, where they remained to reside in.