Yekaterinburg court orders 22-day detention for Azerbaijani Akif Safarov UPDATED

The Yekaterinburg court has imposed a pre-trial detention measure against Akif Safarov.

The court upheld the prosecutor’s request and ruled to place A. Safarov in a pre-trial detention facility for 22 days, a local media outlet informs.

Thus, Safarov will remain in custody until July 19.

13:27

The state prosecutor stated that Akif Safarov was brought into the investigation as a suspect.

According to local media, the prosecutor requested a preventive measure for A. Safarov in the form of detention for 22 days.

12:32

The court session regarding Azerbaijani citizen Akif Safarov was declared closed, with journalists removed from the courtroom, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

The state prosecutor has requested that Safarov be placed in pretrial detention.

Akif Safarov, born in 1963, is the owner of the café "Kaspi," which was raided by Russian law enforcement officers on July 27.

12:09 

A Yekaterinburg court began considering the preventive measure of detention for Safarov, who was also detained on July 27.

Safarov was brought into the courtroom for the hearing, Caliber.Az reports, citing local media.

On June 27, a violent raid by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and Special Rapid Response Unit (SOBR) targeted the Azerbaijani Safarov family in Yekaterinburg, Russia, resulting in significant casualties and detentions. The operation focused on the family’s residences, linked to their ownership of the “Kaspi” restaurant.

Official Russian statements claim the raids were part of a criminal investigation into murders from 2001, 2010, and 2011, involving Russian citizens of Azerbaijani origin. However, the operation’s brutality—resulting in the deaths of Huseyn Safarov (Azerbaijani citizen) and Ziyaddin Safarov (Russian citizen), severe injuries to others, and the detention of nine family members—has raised suspicions of ethnic targeting and political motives.

By Khagan Isayev