A trial on the case of detained Azerbaijanis has begun in Yekaterinburg

A trial on the case of Azerbaijanis detained during the raids has begun in Yekaterinburg.

According to APA, nine people detained on June 27 on suspicion of a crime committed in the early 2000s appeared in court. The court is considering the issue of choosing a preventive measure in the form of detention against Azerbaijanis.

According to media reports, on June 27, security forces searched more than 10 apartments of Azerbaijani natives and detained about 50 people as part of the investigation into the murder of merchant Yunis Pashayev, who was stabbed with kitchen knives in 2001. Brothers Zieddin and Huseyn Safarov were killed during the detention, the media call them the main suspects.

Baku called on Moscow to investigate the detention of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg, during which two citizens of the country were killed. The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the "death ... of compatriots, some of them received serious injuries, as well as the detention of nine people as a result of a special operation of the Russian FSB in the homes of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg on the morning of June 27."

The Ministry also summoned the charge d'affaires of the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan to express a strong protest to the Russian side.

The media also write that the Safarov brothers were the owners of the infamous Kaspiy cafe in Yekaterinburg, where they "organized showdowns and detained criminal authorities." Bailiffs and employees of Rospotrebnadzor also came to the institution because of numerous violations.