By Tass
BAKU, July 1 /TASS/. Azerbaijan’s Prosecutor General’s Office has opened a criminal case into the deaths of two individuals who were allegedly killed during a police raid on Monday.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the case has been filed under several articles of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code, including those covering premeditated murder committed by a group, murder carried out with particular cruelty or in a way endangering the public, and abuse of official power resulting in grave consequences. The preliminary investigation has been entrusted to the office’s investigation department.
Earlier on Tuesday, Adalat Hasanov, Director General of the Association of Forensic Medicine and Pathological Anatomy at Azerbaijan’s Health Ministry, announced at a press conference that brothers Husein and Ziyaddin Safarov — suspected of murder in Yekaterinburg — died from severe injuries caused by blunt-force trauma.
According to the Sverdlovsk Region branch of Russia’s Investigative Committee, law enforcement agencies dismantled an ethnic criminal group on June 27. The investigation alleges that the suspects were involved in multiple murders and attempted murders in Yekaterinburg in 2001, 2010, and 2011. Six Russian citizens were detained in connection with the case. Preliminary findings indicated that one of the suspects died from heart failure, while the cause of death of the second individual is still being determined.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russian Charge d’Affaires Pyotr Volokovykh, who had been summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, provided detailed clarifications on the situation. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized the importance of ongoing dialogue with Baku to further clarify the reasons and circumstances surrounding the detention of Azerbaijani nationals.
In protest against the actions of Russian security agencies, Baku lodged an official complaint and canceled a number of cultural and other events involving Russian participation. The Kremlin expressed regret over Baku’s decision.