U2 frontman Bono delivered a speech at the Washington Oxi Day Foundation’s Fifth Annual Celebration, hailing Leyla Yunus, an Azerbaijani human rights activist who was sentenced to 8.5 years in jail for speaking out on the deplorable situation of human rights in Azerbaijan.

On 28 April 2014, Arif Yunus and his wife Leyla were detained at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport on their way to Doha, Qatar over allegation of spying for Armenia.

On August 13, 2015, the Baku Court on Grave Crimes sentenced Leyla Yunus to 8 years and 6 months in prison and her husband, Arif Yunus, to 7 years in prison.

“This is a moment to talk about peace as an action. It’s not wishful thinking. Creating peace is a gift to make as well as to receive. Azerbaijan is a beautiful country, run by an ugly dictator, who puts his own people, your people, our people behind bars for the crime of expressing an opinion and seeking justice. What a crime,” the singer noted.

Speaking about the plight of the human rights advocate who remains imprisoned in Azerbaijan, Bono said Leila wants peace and reconciliation between Armenia and Azerbaijan. She wants truth from a dictator, who loves to lie, he said.

“So, what Leila seeks should not be seen as anything other than fundamental right. And yet she is viewed as a traitor and is, as we speak, jailed. We, in this room, all know the free speech and expression are the building blocks of peace. People’s rights are still denied for so many people around the world. Leila, you are on the right side of history. Thanks for your courage,” Bono concluded, expressing hope to ever be useful to Leyla.

Astronaut, Senator and American hero, John Glenn, and the husband of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip, H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh, joined other world leaders lauding the people of Greece in their courageous fight against Hitler’s Axis Forces and the Holocaust and celebrating those who today exhibit the same kind of Oxi Day valor. This was all part of the Washington Oxi Day Foundation‘s Fifth Annual Celebration on October 28, the 75th anniversary of that historic moment that changed the trajectory of the Second World War.