“If the minister would look in the eyes of all criminals, will it help us to eradicate crime?”

By Vestnik Kavkaza

Yesterday the general prosecutor of Azerbaijan Zakir Garalov stated that the presumption of innocence was broken, concerning Orkhan Zeinalov who was accused of the murder of Egor Shcherbakov in Biryulyovo. Garalov addressed his Russian colleague Yuri Chaika and the head of the Investigating Council of Russia Alexander Bastrykin to provide the rule of law in investigating the case of Zeinalov and to allow him access to a lawyer and an interpreter. Baku believes that Russia broke the requirements of the convention of the CIS countries on legal support and legal relation on property, family, and criminal affairs, as well as the European Human Rights Convention.

Rustam Arifdzhanov, member of the Presidium of the All-Russian Azerbaijani Congress, told Vestnik Kavkaza that “these conflicts are necessary for people who think that that small conflicts can blow off some steam and calm the Russian population of the Russian Federation, which, of course, is outraged by the fact that the national identity and ethnic appearance of the cities and towns of Russia are changing. But small conflicts are not enough. These small conflicts can produce a great conflict. The incitement of such conflicts is very necessary for those who think that social tensions in society - and it exists because there is corruption in society, there is a huge division between the rich and the poor, while the rich openly enjoy their wealth, and for the poor it is sometimes difficult to live a normal life - that it is possible to transform social tensions into inter-ethnic ones, and the image of the enemy will not be a choosy official, or a corrupt general, or an officer, but representatives of other nationalities, who came here to work for us, for the citizens of Russia, and earn some money. So, unfortunately, many people need these conflicts. The sooner we understand this, the sooner we will act against these people, not against poor Uzbeks , Tajiks, Kyrgyz, and all those who work in Russia - and, perhaps, we will fix this situation in our society.”

According to Rustam Arifdzhanov, the Biryulyovo events “have become a litmus test of what is happening in our society. And there is no single theme here, there is no single solution to this problem. The easiest thing would be to express condolences to the family of the victims. And to say that it is too bad that we have domestic crimes. For no reason, like an act of hooliganism, one person kills another. There are no questions here. This is bad, and the one who did it, whether it be my fellow countryman or not, or any other man, he would still have to be punished to the fullest extent of the law of the Russian Federation. The second issue is the attitude of the law enforcement bodies to this crime. I will be very happy if it turns out that they indeed found the criminal and quickly arrested him. Alas, this is not always the case in the work of our law enforcement agencies. Our honourable representatives of internal affairs, our policemen, do not succeed in doing everything quickly and clearly.”

Arifdzhanov is indignant about the video of Zeinalov’s detention: “I realized, like many journalists and many of our citizens did, that detainees are not treated nicely, but I could never imagine that a man in handcuffs would be beaten so openly. I could never imagine that the detention of an ordinary criminal would be turned into a stage show. I do not really understand it, I am still a Russian citizen, I pay my taxes, I thought that the money spent on the flight of these two helicopters could have perhaps been added to the salary of policemen somewhere, perhaps given as a reward to someone, and not for transporting a petty murderer. Unfortunately, facts are facts, he is a murderer, he is a criminal, if the court proves it, I cannot understand why it is necessary to spend that kind of money on him. A great number of crimes of this type are unfortunately committed in our country. I would really like it, that if the minister has adopted this tradition, he would look in the eyes of all criminals; maybe it will help us to eradicate crime. If it works, I can agree to the use of the helicopters, and to Mr. Kolokoltsev looking in the eyes of all the criminals.”

Arifadzhanov thinks that Baku “will keep insisting on complying with all the rights of the citizen of the Azerbaijani Republic Zeynalov taken into custody. After all, neither the Azerbaijani Congress nor the Azerbaijani embassy require mitigation or choosing a milder article, this is the business of the internal organs of the Russian Federation. We demand the very basics - compliance with the laws of the Russian Federation. If the law provides for a doctor, there should be one. If it requires a lawyer, there should be one. If it requires a consul, there should be one. I think that the Republic of Azerbaijan and diplomatic authorities will certainly be persistent in this regard. And if Mr. Zeynalov is not guilty, then everything possible will be done to prevent the law enforcement bodies from putting terrible blame on him. If he is guilty, he will get what he deserves according to the laws of the Russian Federation, but I believe that no citizen of Azerbaijan, nor any other man, may he be condemned or just arrested or suspected of a crime, should be subject to physical assaults. And I think that the Azerbaijani side will be monitoring this aspect closely.”