Videos of Russians detained in Azerbaijan with signs of beatings published

Azerbaijani security forces reported the detention of two groups of Russians suspected of drug trafficking and cybercrime. In the distributed videos, traces of beatings are visible on the faces of the detainees.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, on June 30, law enforcement agencies of Azerbaijan came with a search to the office of the Russian agency "Sputnik Azerbaijan", whose activities had previously been officially suspended in the country. Despite this, the office continued to function, and the agency's employees went to work, Azerbaijani media reported. Azerbaijani security forces detained two people in the office of "Sputnik Azerbaijan", calling them undercover agents of the Russian special services. Today, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that two employees have been arrested, and five more are under criminal prosecution for fraud, illegal entrepreneurship, and property laundering.

During operational and investigative activities, the Ministry of Internal Affairs detained members of two organized crime groups in Baku suspected of drug transit from Iran, their online trafficking and cybercrime, Report reported, specifying that the detainees are Russian citizens.

According to the videos and photos posted by APA, at least eight people are standing near the wall of the building. At least two of them have signs of beatings on their faces, and two, dressed in light-colored T-shirts, have blood visible on their T-shirts. Security officers with their faces covered laid the detainees face down on the ground, and then with their heads bowed low, took them to a car.

In another video, the detainees are walking in single file, putting their hands on each other's shoulders.

The names of the detainees are not given in the Azerbaijani media reports.

We remind you that 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. Vugar Safarov claims that on the way to the police station he and his brother were insulted based on their nationality and forced to eat dirt, and that a taser was repeatedly used on his father Mazahir Safarov. When they were detained, all were beaten. Kamal Safarov was taken to intensive care after his detention. The Russian Investigative Committee stated that one defendant in the contract killings in Yekaterinburg died of heart failure, and the cause of death of the second was "being determined." On the evening of June 30, the bodies of the Safarov brothers (also referred to in the media as the Sefarovs) were delivered to Baku. A relative stated that a new forensic examination of the bodies would be conducted in Azerbaijan, since he did not trust the conclusions of Russian experts.

The cause of death of Guseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov, detained during a special operation by security forces in Yekaterinburg, was blows with a blunt object, an examination in Baku concluded. The Prosecutor General's Office of Azerbaijan has opened a criminal case on charges of murder and torture.

Relations between Moscow and Baku have noticeably worsened after an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board crashed in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024, while flying from Baku to Grozny. You can read more about this in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "Baku-Grozny Plane Crash" and in the article "Geopolitical Confrontation: What Did the AZAL Plane Crash Lead To?".

In February, at the request of the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, the activities of the Russian House in Baku were terminated, then the representative office of the Russia Today media group was liquidated. In May, Azerbaijan called Russia the organizer of a cyberattack on its media in connection with these events.

* the activities of the Meta company (which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp) are prohibited in Russia.