Latest news with #Ziyaddin
OC Media
03-07-2025
- Politics
- OC Media
Russian media claims that Azerbaijani police beat and detained its citizens on false charges
Sign in or or Become a member to unlock the audio version of this article Join the voices Aliyev wants to silence. For over eight years, OC Media has worked with fearless journalists from Azerbaijan — some of whom now face decades behind bars — to bring you the stories the regime is afraid will get out. Help us fuel Aliyev's fears — become an OC Media member today Become a member The independent Russian media outlet Agentstvo has claimed that the bulk of Russian nationals arrested by Azerbaijani authorities in recent days are IT workers who relocated to the country following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia have sharply escalated over the past week following a police raid on ethnic Azerbaijanis in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in late June, which resulted in the deaths of two Azerbaijanis. Russian authorities have claimed the two individuals — brothers Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov — died of natural causes, while Azerbaijan has said police beat and tortured them to death. The group of 11 Russians were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and committing cyber crimes at the end of June, and paraded in front of Azerbaijani media. Many displayed visible injuries, prompting accusations that they had been abused by Azerbaijani police. Citing publicly available information, Agentstvo wrote that only one of the individuals had a previous criminal conviction — on minor gambling charges — despite claims from Azerbaijani authorities that the group was operating as an organised criminal ring. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Baku had granted consular access to 13 Russian nationals detained in the country, which had reportedly been previously denied. In addition to the above-mentioned 11 individuals, Zakharova was likely also referring to two employees of the Baku branch of the Russian state-run media outlet Sputnik who had been arrested on espionage charges on 30 June. Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesperson Aykhan Hajizada claimed on Wednesday that the allegations that the detainees had been mistreated or denied access to consular services were 'unfounded'. 'It should be noted that the Azerbaijani side has never publicised and politicised the weeks-long delays in Russia's responses to our repeated appeals for organising consular meetings with Azerbaijani citizens detained and held in prisons in various cities of Russia', he added. Advertisement Rhetoric and tit-for-tat responses escalate As relations between the once comparatively close allies continued to deteriorate, both sides appeared to make more tit-for-tat responses. The pro-government Azerbaijani media outlet APA reported on Thursday that access to '.az' domains had been blocked on mobile providers in Russia. There was no explanation provided as to why that was the case. Meanwhile, Russia's Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) also 'initiated enforcement proceedings' against Azerbaijani-Russian oligarch Aras Agalarov, the Russian media outlet Vedomosti reported on Wednesday. However, the proceedings were originally filed on 27 June — the same day the deaths of the Safarov brothers were first reported — and followed an original 'writ execution' filed in May. It is unclear if proceedings against Agalarov, the details of which were not specified, were connected to the wider tensions between Moscow and Baku. The Russian Foreign Ministry's Situation and Crisis Centre Department published a travel advisory for Russian nationals visiting Azerbaijan on Wednesday, urging them to exercise 'increased caution'. Nonetheless, a prominent Russian travel agency told the state-run news agency TASS that despite the tension, tours were still operating in Azerbaijan. Russian propagandists and military bloggers continued to escalate their anti-Azerbaijan rhetoric, with some accusing Baku of acting as a NATO proxy against Russia. Others suggested, without providing any evidence, that Azerbaijanis had helped facilitate Ukraine's audacious drone strike against Russian bombers deep behind the front line at the beginning of June. Echoing the sentiments used to justify Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, some also called for the 'denazification' of Azerbaijan.
Straits Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Azerbaijan says brothers arrested by Russia were tortured and beaten to death
Azerbaijan says brothers arrested by Russia were tortured and beaten to death BAKU - Post-mortems on two Azerbaijani brothers who died in Russian police custody have shown that they were beaten to death, authorities in the South Caucasus country said on Tuesday as tensions rose sharply between Moscow and Baku. Azerbaijani prosecutors said they had opened a criminal investigation into the alleged murders of Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov following their arrest last week in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg. The case concerns "the torture and deliberate killing with particular cruelty of Azerbaijani citizens and ethnic Azerbaijanis by officers of law enforcement agencies of the Russian Federation", the state prosecutor's office said. In a further deepening of the crisis, Azerbaijan on Monday detained a group of Russian state media employees on suspicion of fraud, drawing a protest from Moscow. On Tuesday, an Azerbaijani government source told Reuters that about 15 more Russians had been arrested separately on suspicion of drug trafficking and cybercrime. The source shared videos showing them being handcuffed, made to march in line, and being bundled into police vans. The cases threaten to severely damage relations between Russia and Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country that has close ties with Turkey. Russia summoned the Azerbaijani ambassador to Moscow on Tuesday to receive an official protest over "the latest unfriendly actions of Baku, deliberate steps by the Azerbaijani side to dismantle bilateral relations", the Russian foreign ministry said. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the journalists' arrests were an "extremely emotional reaction" by Azerbaijan, and Russia aimed to negotiate their release. FORENSIC TESTS The chain of events began last week when investigators in Yekaterinburg, a Russian industrial city, conducted scores of raids against ethnic Azerbaijanis whom they suspected of complicity in historic unsolved crimes, including serial killings. Russian investigators initially said Ziyaddin had died of heart failure and did not give a cause for death for Huseyn. The bodies of the men arrived in Baku on Monday evening. Adalat Hasanov, head of forensic examination at Azerbaijan's health ministry, said fresh post-mortems showed the brothers both died of "post-traumatic shock" due to severe beatings. Russian examiners' assertion that Ziyaddin, who was born in 1970, died of heart failure, was a "blatant falsehood", Hasanov told reporters. "During the follow-up examination, we discovered multiple fractures on Ziyaddin's body resulting from beatings. All of his ribs were broken, and a haemorrhage was found on his head, also caused by blunt force trauma," he said. The other brother, Huseyn, born in 1966, also died as a result of beatings, Hasanov said. He said all of the deceased internal organs had been removed during the previous autopsy in Russia, "which may indicate an attempt to conceal the true cause of death". Azerbaijan and Russia have traded barbs since the men's deaths, with Baku accusing Russian police of carrying out extrajudicial killings "on ethnic grounds", an allegation Moscow has rejected. Russian investigators said all the six men arrested held Russian passports. The Azerbaijani police raid targeting Russian journalists in Baku was conducted at the office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local branch of the state-run Rossiya Segodnya news agency. An Azerbaijani source said two people had been placed under formal arrest and five others were still under investigation. The case relates to alleged fraud, illegal entrepreneurship and money laundering, the source said. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Straits Times
Azerbaijani men arrested by Russian police were beaten to death, Baku says
Azerbaijani men arrested by Russian police were beaten to death, Baku says BAKU - Post-mortems conducted in Baku on two Azerbaijani men who died last week after they were arrested by Russian police show that they were beaten to death, a state forensic examiner said on Tuesday. The deaths of the men, brothers named Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, have raised diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Baku and led to the tit-for-tat arrests of Russian state media journalists working in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's ambassador to Russia was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow on Tuesday to receive an official protest against Baku's "unfriendly actions" and the "illegal detention" of the journalists. The rift between Russia and Azerbaijan has widened after investigators in Yekaterinburg, a Russian industrial city, conducted scores of raids last week targeting ethnic Azerbaijanis whom they suspected of complicity in historic unsolved crimes, including serial killings. The Safarov brothers died during the raids, in which six people were arrested. Russian investigators initially said Ziyaddin had died of heart failure and did not give a cause for death for Huseyn. The bodies of the men arrived in Baku on Monday evening for forensic examination. Adalat Hasanov, head of forensic examination at Azerbaijan's health ministry, said fresh post-mortems showed the brothers both died of "post-traumatic shock" due to severe beatings. Russian examiners' assertion that Ziyaddin, who was born in 1970, died of heart failure, is a "blatant falsehood," Hasanov told reporters. "During the follow-up examination, we discovered multiple fractures on Ziyaddin's body resulting from beatings. All of his ribs were broken, and a haemorrhage was found on his head, also caused by blunt force trauma," he said. The other brother, Huseyn, born in 1966, also died as a result of beatings, Hasanov said. He said all of the deceased internal organs had been removed during the previous autopsy in Russia, "which may indicate an attempt to conceal the true cause of death." Azerbaijan and Russia have traded barbs since the men's deaths, with Baku accusing Russian police of carrying out extrajudicial killings "on ethnic grounds", an allegation Moscow has rejected. Russian investigators said all the six men arrested held Russian passports. On Monday, police in Baku arrested two journalists working for Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local affiliate of Russian state outlet Rossiya Segodnya, and said it would investigate the agency for illegal funding. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hindustan Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
Azerbaijani men arrested by Russian police were beaten to death, Baku says
By Nailia Bagirova and Lucy Papachristou Azerbaijani men arrested by Russian police were beaten to death, Baku says BAKU, - Post-mortems conducted in Baku on two Azerbaijani men who died last week after they were arrested by Russian police show that they were beaten to death, a state forensic examiner said on Tuesday. The deaths of the men, brothers named Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, have raised diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Baku and led to the tit-for-tat arrests of Russian state media journalists working in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan's ambassador to Russia was summoned to the foreign ministry in Moscow on Tuesday to receive an official protest against Baku's "unfriendly actions" and the "illegal detention" of the journalists. The rift between Russia and Azerbaijan has widened after investigators in Yekaterinburg, a Russian industrial city, conducted scores of raids last week targeting ethnic Azerbaijanis whom they suspected of complicity in historic unsolved crimes, including serial killings. The Safarov brothers died during the raids, in which six people were arrested. Russian investigators initially said Ziyaddin had died of heart failure and did not give a cause for death for Huseyn. The bodies of the men arrived in Baku on Monday evening for forensic examination. Adalat Hasanov, head of forensic examination at Azerbaijan's health ministry, said fresh post-mortems showed the brothers both died of "post-traumatic shock" due to severe beatings. Russian examiners' assertion that Ziyaddin, who was born in 1970, died of heart failure, is a "blatant falsehood," Hasanov told reporters. "During the follow-up examination, we discovered multiple fractures on Ziyaddin's body resulting from beatings. All of his ribs were broken, and a haemorrhage was found on his head, also caused by blunt force trauma," he said. The other brother, Huseyn, born in 1966, also died as a result of beatings, Hasanov said. He said all of the deceased internal organs had been removed during the previous autopsy in Russia, "which may indicate an attempt to conceal the true cause of death." Azerbaijan and Russia have traded barbs since the men's deaths, with Baku accusing Russian police of carrying out extrajudicial killings "on ethnic grounds", an allegation Moscow has rejected. Russian investigators said all the six men arrested held Russian passports. On Monday, police in Baku arrested two journalists working for Sputnik Azerbaijan, the local affiliate of Russian state outlet Rossiya Segodnya, and said it would investigate the agency for illegal funding. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
OC Media
30-06-2025
- Politics
- OC Media
Baku's relations with Moscow plunge to new lows after alleged police killing of ethnic Azerbaijanis
Sign in or or Become a member to unlock the audio version of this article Join the voices Aliyev wants to silence. For over eight years, OC Media has worked with fearless journalists from Azerbaijan — some of whom now face decades behind bars — to bring you the stories the regime is afraid will get out. Help us fuel Aliyev's fears — become an OC Media member today Become a member State-run media outlet Azertac has written that two ethnic Azerbaijanis were killed during Russian law enforcement raids in Yekaterinburg, with several others seriously injured and nine people arrested. Following this, Baku cancelled a number of Russia-related events and raided the offices of Sputnik-Azerbaijan as relations seemed to plunge to a new low. On 27 June, Azertac reported that the raids were in connection to alleged crimes committed decades ago. The two men killed were identified as brothers, Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov. Later, on 28 June, the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Russia in Azerbaijan, Pyotr Volokov, was summoned to the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry, which stated that it had lodged 'a strong protest' to the Russian side in response to the raids. The ministry added that it expects from Russia that 'the case will be investigated and all those responsible for the violence will be brought to the attention of the other side'. The Russian state-run media outlet TASS reported that on Sunday, a Yekaterinburg court remanded Ayaz Safarov, another brother and a defendant in murder cases from previous years, into custody. Safarov was among those arrested in the police raids. Another brother, Mazahir Safarov, was also one of those detained. The Russian media outlet wrote that the Safarovs and other defendants were allegedly part of an ethnic criminal group involved in a number of murders and attempted murders in Yekaterinburg in 2001, 2010, and 2011. 'Some suspects have already confessed and are cooperating with the investigation. Searches are being conducted at their places of residence. The issue of choosing a preventive measure in the form of detention is currently being decided', the media outlet wrote. Advertisement The bodies of Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, who were reportedly brutally beaten to death, have been handed over to their relatives. The pro-government media outlet wrote that earlier, the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in Yekaterinburg reported that the bodies were taken from the morgue of the Yekaterinburg Bureau of Forensic Medicine. Deteriorating relations Baku has reacted strongly to the incident, which appears to further damage an already tense relationship with Moscow. Azertac noted that 'in response to the targeted and extrajudicial killings and acts of violence against Azerbaijanis based on their ethnicity', all cultural events planned in Azerbaijan involving Russian state and private entities have been cancelled. 'We sincerely regret the decisions taken', Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in response. Peskov added that Moscow believes that the measures taken by the Azerbaijani side are an 'exaggerated reaction' and that issues related to the actions of law enforcement agencies should not become a reason 'for such large-scale restrictions'. Peskov stressed that a separate conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on this matter was not planned. 'However, if necessary, such a dialogue can be organised in a short time. The Russian side declares its interest in continuing cooperation with Azerbaijan', Peskov said. Monday brought new developments in the deteriorating relations between Moscow and Baku, when Azerbaijani authorities raided the offices of the Russian state-run media outlet Sputnik-Azerbaijan in Baku, resulting in several detentions, two of whom were allegedly employees of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB). In February, the Azerbaijani government ordered the suspension of the Sputnik-Azerbaijan, allowing one journalist to keep working in the country. Following this, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Russia Rahman Mustafayev was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry, which said it was 'in connection with Baku's unfriendly actions and the illegal detention of Russian journalists'.
