The former head of the Azerbaijani diaspora detained in Yekaterinburg claimed in court that there was a conspiracy against him

A trial has begun in Yekaterinburg against former head of the Azerbaijani diaspora Vidadi Mustafayev, who is accused of multiple episodes of fraud.

As reported by BAKU.WS with reference to Oxu.Az, the victims stated that they had given him large sums of money to resolve their problems. Mustafayev took the money but provided no help whatsoever. He categorically denies his guilt.

It should be noted that Vidadi was detained in December 2025 on the first floor of the "Iset" tower. The reason was a complaint filed by Novruz Sadatov, who reported the theft of his money and a Porsche (total damages amounting to 16 million rubles). After that, Mustafayev was taken into custody, where he remains to this day.

During the court hearing on Monday, June 22, the charges were read out and Novruz Sadatov himself was questioned. Other victims in the case include individuals named Boyliev and Pankratov. According to the investigation, Vidadi fraudulently took 700,000 rubles from the first and over 5 million rubles from the second.

"The money was intended for resolving issues that the victims were facing. Mustafayev told them he had connections among law enforcement officers and other officials. In reality, this was not the case. He took the money and used it at his own discretion," stated a source close to law enforcement agencies, as reported by e1.ru.

Vidadi himself believes he has become a victim of slander.

"I don't believe I was trying to enrich myself; people came to me on their own. I know what this (criminal case — ed.) is connected to. There is a person between us, there is a situation related to the Public Oversight Committee, the Center for Culture, Youth and Sports of Azerbaijanis of the Urals. There is a situation orchestrated by these people who took advantage of the criminal case. I want to say that when Pankratov and I had a face-to-face confrontation, I addressed the investigator by his first name and patronymic, while Pankratov was saying: 'Kolka, Kolka will write it down now.'

I did not take any money from these people. Sadatov says I asked him for 30 million rubles — that was related to the forest park at Shartash. I told him that at the moment there is a master plan, it has been developed. We went there, I showed it to him. Your Honor, I want to say that I did not ask [Sadatov] for any money," Vidadi Mustafayev stated in court.

According to e1.ru, law enforcement agencies are investigating several more criminal cases against the former head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Sverdlovsk region. Specifically, the investigation has a complaint from representatives of the company "Agroprodukt," who accuse Vidadi of fraud. According to unofficial information, the case is not making any progress, even though the case files contain witness testimony.