Point of contention: passions boil in Baku over arrest of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg

On June 28, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Russian Embassy in the Republic of Azerbaijan, Petr Volokov, was summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, where he received a note stating that "the Azerbaijani side hopes for a prompt and comprehensive investigation of this incident by the Russian authorities and for the prosecution of those guilty of using unacceptable violence."

The wording is quite harsh for a diplomatic document, especially since the details of the event itself, which happened the day before, are unclear. It is obvious that Baku received information only from its compatriots and its reliability has not been verified.

According to the regional Investigative Committee and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk Region, this is about "carrying out a set of measures within the framework of the investigation of criminal cases on crimes of past years", during which "a number of persons were detained on suspicion of committing several crimes that occurred in past years on the territory of Yekaterinburg", and their homes were searched. The Baku Plaza shopping center was also searched.

At the same time, according to Ura.ru, the day before in Yekaterinburg, law enforcement agencies detained more than fifty people from Azerbaijan, some of whom were released after investigative actions. As the agency reports, a search was underway for the killer among those detained.

The arrests are related to an unsolved case of the murder of a businessman, which was opened back in 2001. The investigation is being conducted by employees of the fourth department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for solving crimes of past years.

According to Russian media, the Azerbaijanis detained in Yekaterinburg were involved in several episodes of murder and attempted murder.

They face up to life imprisonment.

The criminal case is being investigated on the basis of several crimes:

- murder committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy;

- attempted murder for hire.

According to investigators, the incidents for which the charges were brought took place in Yekaterinburg in 2001, 2010 and 2011.

Several suspects have already confessed and are cooperating with the investigation, the Investigative Committee noted. The issue of choosing a preventive measure is currently being decided. They are also being checked for involvement in other crimes.

One of the main suspects died during the storming of his apartment by security forces. As his acquaintance told the portal, the man felt unwell and had heart problems. "An ambulance was called, they helped him, tried to resuscitate him, but to no avail. He was already old," the source said. The deceased was one of the brothers suspected of killing a merchant in Yekaterinburg in 2001, the publication reports.

Trend adds that on the morning of June 27, a raid was conducted in Yekaterinburg in more than ten apartments where Azerbaijani citizens live. A significant part of the Safarov family, originally from Agdam, was detained. Two brothers, Zieddin and Huseyn Safarov, died during the raid. Three more were taken to hospital.

It is not reported how exactly the brothers died.

A different version is presented by Azerbaijani media and Telegram channels, which are “shocked by the actions of Russian security forces” and refer to the story of Mukhammed Safarov.

- At 5 a.m. there was a knock on the door. I got out of bed and went to the door. I looked through the peephole - there were about 20 people in masks standing behind the door, - says Safarov.

According to him, he didn't have time to open the door before it was broken down. He, his brother and his father were laid on the floor, stripped naked, and beaten with belts with iron buckles for 40 minutes. Then all three were taken to the police station, where they were interrogated under duress - did they know a certain Pashayev?

As a result, as Safarov says, they were taken from the police station by lawyer and chairman of the Azerbaijani diaspora Shahin Shikhlinsky, and he could not know what a certain Pashayev was doing in 2001, since he was born only in 1997.

As Ramil Safarov, a relative of the deceased, told Oxu.Az , the bodies of Ziyaddin and Huseyn will be handed over to the family on June 30:

"Tomorrow there will be a court hearing on the case of the detained persons. After that, the transfer of the bodies to relatives is planned. After that, we will organize the transportation of the remains to Azerbaijan."

The Embassy of Azerbaijan in Russia and the Consulate General in Yekaterinburg are actively involved in this process.

The dramatic incident has already been linked in Baku with a conspiracy theory that Russia is allegedly taking revenge on Azerbaijanis for Ilham Aliyev not coming to Moscow to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Victory. The theory is, to put it mildly, naive. But it cannot be denied that Azerbaijani society is extremely painfully experiencing an unresolved dispute with Moscow related to the incident that occurred on December 25, 2024, when an AZAL plane flying from Baku to Grozny was damaged over the territory of Chechnya.

Azerbaijan is still awaiting an official reaction from the Russian side to the crash of the AZAL plane, which occurred in Russian airspace. Responsibility for this tragedy, which resulted in the deaths of Azerbaijani citizens, has not yet been established, and those guilty of what happened, known to Moscow, remain at large.

Finally, it is worth noting that the actions of Russian security forces are increasingly causing official protests in former Soviet countries that are considered close allies of Moscow. On June 11, the Uzbek Foreign Ministry expressed serious concern over the increasing number of incidents involving unjustified checks and inappropriate behavior towards Uzbek citizens in the Russian Federation.

The reason for the note was a police raid in the Moscow district of Strogino. The event took place in a dormitory intended for citizens of the CIS countries and located on the territory of one of the facilities belonging to the Ministry of Defense. The video showed and heard how the riot police insulted and humiliated the Uzbek workers.

Azerbaijani Human Rights Commissioner Sabina Aliyeva sent a letter to Russian Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova and Sverdlovsk Ombudsman Tatyana Merzlyakova.

The Ombudsman called on the Russian side to take control of the case, conduct a comprehensive and objective investigation, bring those responsible to justice, and provide assistance to the families of the victims.

The need for systemic control and prevention of similar violations in the future was also emphasized. Aliyeva expressed hope that the steps taken will lead to a fair legal assessment of the tragedy and increased protection of the rights of foreign citizens in Russia.