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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.

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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.