BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 18. Russian citizens detained in Baku, including employees of the Sputnik Azerbaijan news agency, were visited by their relatives, Trend reports citing the Ombudsman's office.
"Within the framework of the activities of the national preventive mechanism of the Commissioner for Human Rights (Ombudsman) of the Republic of Azerbaijan, each of the detained persons was received individually, the conditions of detention and issues of treatment with them were studied on the spot.
At the same time, we declare that the family members of the arrested who contacted the Ombudsman were received in the office, and their requests for meetings with relatives were satisfied by the Ombudsman.
The detained persons received by the members of the NPG (National Preventive Group) of the Ombudsman did not complain about the conditions of detention and treatment with them, it was noted that their requests for admission and medical assistance were satisfied.
The issue is under the control of the Ombudsman," the office said.
On July 1, two criminal groups suspected of drug transit from Iran, their online trafficking and cyber fraud were detained in Baku.
According to the court decision, a preventive measure in the form of arrest for a period of four months was chosen for eight detained Russian citizens.
On July 1, during an operation at the office of Sputnik Azerbaijan news agency, the executive director of Sputnik's Baku branch, Igor Kartavykh, and the editor-in-chief, Yevgeny Belousov, were detained. Both of them have been charged under the following articles of the Criminal Code: 178.3.1 (fraud committed causing large-scale damage), 192.2.2 (illegal entrepreneurship with large-scale income), 192.2.3 (committed by an organized group), 193-1.3.1 (legalization of property obtained through crime), and 193-1.3.2 (committed on a large scale), and the Khatai District Court has ruled for pretrial detention as a preventive measure.