Russian court upholds arrest of Ayaz Safarov in case linked to Yekaterinburg raids

An appeal against the pretrial detention of Ayaz Safarov, detained during a Russian law enforcement operation targeting Azerbaijanis on June 27 in Yekaterinburg, has been rejected.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court dismissed Safarov’s appeal, and the initial court ruling has now come into force. Safarov will remain in custody, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

The Lenin District Court of Yekaterinburg had ordered Safarov’s arrest on June 29, 2025, with the detention set until July 19, 2025. Safarov faces charges under Article 105.2 of the Russian Criminal Code, which concerns “murder committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy or by an organized group.”

On the morning of June 27, Russia’s FSB conducted raids on homes of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg. The operation resulted in the deaths of two individuals and several others injured.

On June 27, Russian security forces, including the Federal Security Service (FSB), National Guard, and Sverdlovsk Region’s Interior Ministry, conducted mass raids targeting ethnic Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg. The operation, aimed at dismantling an alleged “ethnic criminal group” linked to murders and attempted murders from 2001, 2010, and 2011, detained around 50 individuals. Among them, eight Azerbaijanis—Ayaz Safarov, Akif Safarov, Mazahir Safarov, Kamal Safarov, Bakir Safarov, Ahliman Ganjiyev, Shahin Lalayev, and Aziz Abbasov—were arrested.

The raids resulted in the deaths of two Azerbaijani brothers, Huseyn Safarov (60) and Ziyaddin Safarov (55), with Russian authorities claiming one died of heart failure and the other’s cause of death under investigation. However, Azerbaijani autopsies revealed both died from “post-traumatic shock” due to severe beatings, with injuries including multiple fractures and head trauma.

By Khagan Isayev