Russia/Azerbaijan: Authorities must investigate alleged abuses against detainees amid tit for tat policing operations

Reacting to reports of mass detentions, torture and other ill-treatment of dozens of members of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Russia and Russian nationals in Azerbaijan, which led to the deaths of two ethnic Azeris in Russia’s Yekaterinburg, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:

“The authorities in both Russia and Azerbaijan have shown complete disregard for human dignity and open contempt for their human rights obligations. Torture and other ill-treatment are absolutely prohibited under international law and there is no justification for it. This appears to be nothing more than tit for tat policing operations targeting people based on their ethnicity and nationality.”

“Due process and respect for human rights of people in detention must prevail over political tensions between states. Russian and Azerbaijani authorities must promptly, thoroughly, independently and impartially investigate allegations of unlawful killings and torture and other ill-treatment and bring those responsible to justice.”

The authorities in both Russia and Azerbaijan have shown complete disregard for human dignity and open contempt for their human rights obligations

Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Background

On 27 June, Russian law enforcement carried out mass detentions of around 50 ethnic Azeris in Yekaterinburg, among them Russian and Azerbaijani nationals, reportedly in connection with an investigation into a killing committed in 2001 and other past crimes. Six individuals were charged and placed in pre-trial detention, while others were released after questioning.

According to one of the survivors, all those detained were beaten: slammed to the floor, hit with chairs and tortured with electric shocks for about an hour. Several people were hospitalized and two individuals, brothers Ziyaddin and Guseyn Safarov, died in custody. Azerbaijani authorities claim that the brothers, who both held Russian passports, died from torture and multiple injuries caused while in Russian custody. The Russian authorities have cited heart failure as the cause of death of one of the brothers and stated that they are clarifying the other’s cause of death. Heart failure is often given by authorities as the cause of death in Russian custody in cases where torture and other ill-treatment has been alleged.

In what appears to be retaliatory action, the Azerbaijani authorities detained at least eight Russian nationals in Baku between 30 June and 1 July, under accusations ranging from espionage to drug trafficking to computer hacking. These include two journalists – Igor Kartavykh and Evgeny Belousov – detained during a raid on the office of Sputnik Azerbaijan, a state-run Russian media outlet which the Azerbaijani authorities had earlier deprived of accreditation. Others included IT specialists who had left Russia after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and at least one person who was reportedly visiting Azerbaijan as a tourist. Videos and photos of the arrests distributed by Azerbaijani law enforcement channels and photos taken in court during the remand hearing show Russian detainees with visible facial bruising and head injuries.