Russian law enforcement agencies raided not only the Safarovs' homes in Yekaterinburg, but also the cafe they owned, Elgiz Safarov, who was subjected to raids and torture by Russian law enforcement agencies in Yekaterinburg, told APA.
He recounted the details of the violence inflicted on the Safarov family and other Azerbaijanis, who have lived in Yekaterinburg for over 30 years, on June 27:
"They raided our house and took my father, and I wasn't home at the time. They took my father at 5 a.m. At 2 p.m., I went to the cafe to check on the condition of the employees. Suddenly, masked men raided the cafe as well, knocking everyone face down. They shot the cafe's security guard in the eye, and now he needs surgery. They broke the jaw of one of the employees. Then they started humiliating and insulting us... They kept beating us and saying, 'We'll chop you up and kill you.'"
Elgiz Safarov noted that the first thing the "masked men" did was to break the surveillance cameras in the cafe:
"They demanded the memory card location of the camera. The owner of the cafe is my father. My father's name is Akif Safarov. My father is the Safarovs' older brother. My father is also detained at the moment, in the police station. According to the information I received, they beat and tortured my other uncles more than my father. They beat his other brothers in front of my father."
Elgiz Safarov said that the people who stormed the cafe did not present any documents:
"After they had their surveillance cameras removed, they started beating us. When they found out that I was the son of the cafe owner, they demanded that I cook kebabs. They broke the dishes in the cafe. When we were cooking kebabs, they came and hit us from behind with a truncheon. They kept us lying on the floor in the cafe for about 2 and a half hours. They ate and drank, beat us again and left."
E. Safarov said that two of his uncles died, and the others were subjected to physical torture, with their ribs broken.
E. Safarov noted that his father and uncles were detained in 2001 on suspicion of the murder of another Azerbaijani:
"I don't know who the Azerbaijani, who was killed, was. Now they say that our people should take responsibility for this crime."
