Azerbaijani detained in Yekaterinburg: 'They were torturing my father with electric current'

One of the Azerbaijanis detained yesterday by Russia's Federal Security Service in Yekaterinburg and later released - Vugar Safarov - told Report the details of the incident.

In his statement, Vugar Safarov said that on June 27, at around 05:00 in the morning, there was a knock on the door:

"At first, I didn't open the door. But when I saw they were breaking it down, I opened it myself. Everyone was wearing masks. They were from Russia's Federal Security Service. There were also two children at home. They beat us without asking anything. They ransacked the house and beat us for an hour. They slammed our heads on the floor. They hit our heads with chairs."

Vugar Safarov noted that they were later taken away in cars:

"The cars were very dirty, they laid us down and said 'eat this mud.' In detention, they insulted us, hit our heads, and tortured us with electric current. Then they insulted us saying, 'So, do you like it, churka [derogatory term]?' They used expressions like 'Why did you come here?'"

Vugar Safarov also said that they beat his father in the adjacent room:

"I could hear his screams. Although my father told them he had a stent in his heart, they knowingly tortured that part of his body with electric current. They beat him for 10 hours and in the end he screamed 'I'm dying,' so they called an ambulance. When they were taking my father to the hospital, he told me, 'Son, they want to blame everything on me. All my ribs are broken.' I saw there was no uninjured spot on his face."

Vugar Safarov emphasized that they wanted to take them from detention to the war:

"They approached me and said that I had to sign a contract and go to war. I didn't know what to do and said that I had donated 30,000 rubles in humanitarian aid. They said 'why so little' and started beating me again. My father also asked if they would release his son if he agreed. They answered 'yes.' In the evening hours, the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Yekaterinburg, Shahin Shikhlinski, and his lawyer son came to the detention center and got me and my brother released."

On the morning of June 27, Russia's Federal Security Service raided homes of Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg. During the raid, 2 Azerbaijanis were killed and several people were detained. The killed Azerbaijanis are brothers of well-known Azerbaijani journalist Seyfaddin Huseynli.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan also issued a statement on June 28 regarding the attacks by Russia's Federal Security Service on Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg.

Russia's chargé d'affaires in Baku was summoned to Azerbaijan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the incident in Yekaterinburg, and a strong protest was expressed.