Particle.news
Download on the App Store
15 ARTICLES
·
3mo ago

Azerbaijan Confirms Brothers Beaten to Death in Russian Custody, Opens Murder Probe

Baku’s investigation follows forensic results that Azerbaijan says prove ethnic bias and torture in the Yekaterinburg police operation.

Image
FILE - Workers carry a coffin with the body of a victim from the Azerbaijani Airlines crash near the Kazakhstani city of Aktau, at the Heydar Aliyev International Airport outside Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 28, 2024. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Pedestrians stand at the crossing in front of the Rossiya Segodnya International Media Group building in Moscow, Russia, on Nov. 6, 2024. (AP Photo/Pavel Bednyakov, File)
Bakir Safarov, a native of Azerbaijan, right, who faces charges as part of a Russian investigation of several killings, attends a court hearing in Yekaterinburg, Russia, on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo)

Overview

  • Azerbaijan’s State Prosecutor’s Office launched a criminal case into the deaths of Huseyn and Ziyaddin Safarov after post-mortems revealed multiple fractures and hemorrhages consistent with severe beatings.
  • On July 1, Russia summoned Azerbaijan’s ambassador in Moscow to protest Baku’s “unfriendly actions” and the “illegal detention” of two Sputnik Azerbaijan journalists arrested during a June 30 office raid.
  • Azerbaijan revoked Sputnik Azerbaijan’s accreditation in February and on June 30 its interior ministry raided the outlet’s Baku offices, detaining two senior staff on allegations of illegal financing.
  • Russia’s Investigative Committee maintains the Yekaterinburg operation targeted suspects in unsolved murders dating back to 2001–2011, attributing one death to heart failure and pledging further medical examinations.
  • EU Ambassador Peter Michalko condemned reports of violence and torture against ethnic Azerbaijanis by Russian security forces and urged that those responsible be held accountable.