A court in Yekaterinburg arrested two Azerbaijanis— both Safarovs

A court in Yekaterinburg has arrested Azerbaijani citizen Mazahir Safarov, accused of contract killings. The court chose Safarov a preventive measure in the form of detention for a period until July 19.

"The Leninsky District Court of Yekaterinburg considered the investigator's petition for the election of a preventive measure in the form of detention of Safarov Mazahir Mohbaly oglu. He is charged by the preliminary investigation authorities under paragraph "g" of part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. According to investigators, Safarov was part of an ethnic criminal group involved in a number of episodes of murders and attempted murders committed on the territory of the city of Yekaterinburg in 2001, 2010, 2011," the press service of the courts of the Sverdlovsk region reported.

The FSB detained Safarov and eight other Azerbaijani citizens on June 27. Two people died during searches and detentions. Today, on June 29, a trial is being held against nine people.

The second defendant, Akif Safarov, was also arrested. He is also suspected of involvement in the murders committed in Yekaterinburg in the 2000s.

Akif Safarov is the director of the Kaspiy Cafe. Two of the media who died during the arrests are called the owners of this cafe — these are brothers Zieddin and Huseyn Safarov. They are considered the main suspects in the murder of the merchant Yunis Pashayev, who was stabbed with kitchen knives in 2001.

Now the court session has already been closed to journalists, reports E1.RU .

Meanwhile, the Investigative Committee of Russia reports that a report will be submitted to the central office of the committee on the situation in connection with the investigation of a criminal case on a particularly serious crime of previous years in Sverdlovsk region.

"In the public space, information about the detention by law enforcement agencies in Sverdlovsk region in the framework of the investigation of the criminal case of the natives of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the death of two of them. The head of the department instructed the acting head of the SC SU Russia in the Sverdlovsk region Nadbitov A.D. to submit a detailed report on the situation. The investigation of the criminal case on the crime of previous years has been put under control at the central office of the department," the report says.