On Wednesday, a court in Yekaterinburg ordered the pre-trial detention of six ethnic Azerbaijani individuals in connection with an unresolved murder case dating back several decades. This development follows the controversial deaths of two Azerbaijani detainees in Russia, which have triggered a significant diplomatic dispute between Moscow and Baku.
Local media reported that law enforcement initially detained over 50 suspects last Friday linked to the unsolved slayings of Azerbaijani businessmen in Yekaterinburg from the early 2000s.
According to Russian investigators, six ethnic Azerbaijani men who hold Russian citizenship were arrested, four of whom share the surname Safarov. Authorities stated that one individual suffered a heart attack during the mass arrests, while the cause of the other death remains under investigation.
The remains of the deceased, brothers Ziyaddin Safarov, aged 55, and Huseyn Safarov, 60, were repatriated to Baku, where an Azerbaijani autopsy revealed they had succumbed to severe blood loss and shock due to extensive physical injuries.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan has initiated a criminal probe into what it termed their “cruel and intentional murder.”
On Wednesday, the Leninsky District Court in Yekaterinburg placed the sixth and final suspect, Shakhin Lalaev, in pre-trial detention until July 19, as reported by the business newspaper Kommersant.
Citing anonymous sources, Kommersant previously indicated that an “ethnic criminal organization” has been allegedly involved in racketeering, drug trafficking, and prostitution in Yekaterinburg since the late 1990s.
The newspaper also linked this organized crime group to several violent incidents, including the 2001 stabbing of local businessman Yunus Pashayev, an attempted murder of businessman Fehruz Shirinov in 2010, and the 2011 shooting of vegetable warehouse owner Ikram Hajiyev.
In a separate incident on Tuesday evening, armed law enforcement officers in Yekaterinburg forcibly apprehended the leader of a local Azerbaijani community group. Social media footage captured agents breaking the windows of his vehicle and dragging him out.
Local reports indicated that the diaspora leader, Shakhin Shykhlinsky, was questioned as a witness in the ongoing cold case investigation and was released from custody later that night.
In response, Moscow summoned the Azerbaijani ambassador on Tuesday, accusing Baku of “intentional actions to undermine bilateral relations,” as stated by Russia’s Foreign Ministry.
In turn, Baku conveyed that its ambassador had expressed “serious concerns” regarding the “unlawful” conduct of Russian police and allegations of “torture” during the detention of Azerbaijani nationals.
