Investigative Committee names cause of one of deaths during detention of Azerbaijanis in Urals

One defendant in the contract killing case in Yekaterinburg died of heart failure, the cause of death of the second is being determined, the investigation said. Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova asked the Prosecutor General's Office to check the legality of the detentions of members of the Azerbaijani diaspora.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, Akhliman Ganjiyev, detained in Yekaterinburg along with other ethnic Azerbaijanis, told his lawyer that he was beaten by security forces and tortured after his detention.

“One of the detained defendants in the case of contract killings in Yekaterinburg died, according to preliminary data, due to heart failure, the Investigative Committee reports. The cause of death of the second is being established. “Based on the results of the forensic examination, final conclusions will be made on the cause of death,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement on its official Telegram channel.

Six people have been detained in the case of contract killings in Yekaterinburg, and two more have died, the agency's representative Svetlana Petrenko reported. According to the investigation, "the defendants who were part of the criminal group were involved in a number of murders and attempted murders" in Yekaterinburg. Petrenko mentioned "the murder in 2001 of Pashayev Yu.F.o., who died from stab wounds; the attempted murder for hire of Shirinov F.B.o. in 2010; the murder in 2011 of a citizen of the Republic of Azerbaijan Gadzhiyev I.B.o., who died from a gunshot wound." The investigation believes that the motive for the crimes is the division of spheres of influence in business.

"Investigative actions, including interrogations of suspects, confessions and verification of testimony on the spot with the participation of one of them allowed the investigation to conclude that the detainees were involved in the crimes committed and that their actions showed signs of a criminal group," Petrenko said.

Moskalkova asked to check the legality of detentions in Yekaterinburg

Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office after detentions in the Azerbaijani diaspora. "The Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan Sabina Aliyeva contacted me regarding the clarification of the circumstances of the detention, death and bodily harm to representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia on June 27," Moskalkova wrote on her Telegram channel.

Moskalkova sent a petition to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office "to verify the legality and validity of the detention, observance of the rights of suspects in committing crimes and victims in a criminal case." According to Moskalkova, her colleague in the Sverdlovsk region, Tatyana Merzlyakova, "is in close contact with lawyers and representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Yekaterinburg."

Today, Azerbaijani law enforcement agencies conducted investigative measures in the office of the Russian agency "Sputnik-Azerbaijan" -liquidated in February representative office of the Russian media group "Russia Today". Earlier, in early February, at the request of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the activities of the Russian House (representative office of Rossotrudnichestvo) in Baku were terminated; the Kremlin called it a "misunderstanding."

In May, Azerbaijan called Russia the organizer of a cyberattack on its media. Baku believes that the probable motive for the cyberattack on Azerbaijani media resources in February was the closure of the Russian House and the representative office of Rossiya Segodnya. Azerbaijani and Russian analysts stated that Baku's demand to close the Russian House was a way to put pressure on Moscow, seeking Russia's admission of guilt in the crash of the AZAL plane and payment of compensation.