Sixth of Azerbaijani nationals detained in Urals arrested
The court has chosen a preventive measure for Shahin Lalayev, accused of organizing murders in Yekaterinburg. The number of people from Azerbaijan arrested in this case has reached six.
As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, five of the six people from Azerbaijan who were detained in connection with the murders committed in 2001-2011 have been arrested in Yekaterinburg. Those arrested are Akif, Ayaz, Bakir and Mazahir Safarov and Akhliman Ganjiyev, and Shahin Lalayev's detention period has been extended. Today it became known that the arrest of Akif Safarov has been appealed.
On June 28, the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry called on the Russian authorities to investigate the deaths and injuries of Azerbaijanis who suffered on June 27 as a result of a special operation by security forces in Yekaterinburg. Experts in Baku named blunt force trauma as the cause of death of brothers Guseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov, while the Russian side called the cause of death a heart attack.
The Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg, at the request of the investigator, chose a preventive measure for Shakhina Lalayeva in the form of detention, the official telegram channel "Courts of the Sverdlovsk Region" reported today.
Lalayev has been arrested until July 19, 2025 inclusive. "The man has been charged with committing a crime under Part 3 of Article 33, paragraph "z" of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation," the publication says.
The said article of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (organization of murder for mercenary motives or for hire, as well as associated with robbery, extortion or banditry) provides for from eight years to life imprisonment.
Shakhin Lalayev became the sixth person arrested on charges of "involvement in contract killings of past years," Interfax reported today, citing the press service of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court.
Recall that after the brutal detention of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg, the Azerbaijani authorities canceled the visit of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Overchuk, as well as cultural programs planned with the participation of Russian side.
On June 30, Azerbaijani security forces conducted a search in the office of the Russian agency "Sputnik Azerbaijan" and detained two people, calling them agents of the Russian special services. On July 1, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that two people were arrested, and five more are being prosecuted for fraud, illegal entrepreneurship and property laundering.
Azerbaijani security forces also reported the detention of two groups of Russians suspected of drug trafficking and cybercrime. In the videos distributed, traces of beatings were visible on the faces of the detainees. Among them, journalists identified two Russian IT specialists who arrived in Azerbaijan no later than the fall of 2022. On July 1, the Sabail District Court of Baku arrested eight Russian citizens, detained on charges of drug trafficking and cybercrime.
Relations between Moscow and Baku have noticeably worsened since the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024, flying from Baku to Grozny. You can read more about this in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "Baku-Grozny flight crash" and in the material "Geopolitical confrontation: what the crash of the AZAL plane led to".
Materials about the deterioration of relations between the two states have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Collapse of ties between Baku and Moscow".
Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/412738