On September 1, a group of people who suffered from the criminal actions of former employees of the Ministry of State Security held a protest in front of the villa of the former head of this department, Eldar Mahmudov, in the village of Nardaran. The protesters were holding the slogan: “Give back the money that you took away from our families with threats!”.
The protesters were illegally arrested by state security officials on false charges and were released after paying large sums of money.
“Why does not Eldar Mahmudov appear in the case, which is now being considered in the Baku Military Court?” Eldar Mahmudov was at the head of these crimes. He should be with Movlam Shikhaliyev (former head of the Investigation Department of the National Security Service), who is currently in prison.
Why does a man who destroyed dozens of families live in mansions and is not prosecuted? Mahmudov is a direct participant in these cases, most of the bribes received went directly to him,” Huseyn Safarov said.
The protesters also demanded that the former Prosecutor General Zakir Garalov and his first deputy Rustam Usubov be held accountable for not stopping these lawlessness.
On July26, at the trial in the Baku Military Court, the former head of the Main Investigation Department of the Ministry of National Security Movlam Shikhaliyev was sentenced to 14 years in prison with confiscation of property. Several of his subordinates, also senior officers, were sentenced to long terms.
* In October 2015, after the dismissal of the Minister of National Security Eldar Mahmudov and personnel purges in the secret services, more than 20 senior officers of the Ministry of National Security were arrested, and in December this department was disbanded.
The detainees were charged with fraud, embezzlement, false imprisonment, robbery, and extortion by threats.
57 people, whose rights were violated as a result of criminal acts committed by employees of the Ministry of National Security, were recognized as victims. It was established that the total amount of damage caused to them amounted to tens of millions of manats.