Saleh Rustamov and Vidadi Rustamli Alive in Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime

Baku / 25.05.18 / Turan: The fate of the arrested Russian citizen Saleh Rustamov and his nephew Vidadi Rustamli became the main news of the last day.

The day before the political journalist Ganimat Zahid reported that according to his information Saleh Rustamov died as a result of torture in the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime (MDCOC) of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the authorities hide his death.

This news aroused great resent and a little later, the Ministry of Internal Affairs began to leak information that Saleh Rustamov is alive and well and that his brother and representatives of the Red Cross visited him and that human rights activists will be admitted to him today. However, this convinced no one.

This morning, a man that introduced himself as Valeh Rustamli, Vidadi's father, called the Turan news agency and said he was near Saleh and Vidadi, and that they were all right. He asked not to publish reports of their torture.

On the journalist's question, where exactly the caller is, he could not report. When a journalist of the agency asked to transfer the receiver to Saleh, the caller appealed to someone asking him to talk to Saleh. A few seconds later the phone was taken by a man who called himself Saleh and who said that he was alive and was not tortured. He also did not say where he was and what he was accused of.

Half an hour later, the lawyer Telman Naghdaliyev called. He also said there had been no torture, and he visited Saleh the day before.

On the question, according to which article the criminal case was initiated, the lawyer did not answer, referring to the "investigation secret".

The situation was clarified by Taleh, brother of Rustamov, who is in contact with the press and who confirmed that Valeh was admitted to the arrested in MDCOC and that they are alive and well.

Recall that Saleh Rustamov was arrested on May 8 on charges of illegal drug trafficking on a large scale. On May 10, his nephew Vidadi was arrested on the same charge.

S. Rustamov led the Gadabay district"s executive power under the leadership of the Popular Front in 1992-93. According to the assumptions of the opposition, S. Rustamov could be tortured to obtain evidence about alleged financing of the opposition. -06D--