Source: Kavkaz Uzel, News.az, EuroNews
Four more people have been arrested over involvement in Baku fires in Binagadi and Khatai districts on May 19 and April 10, 2015 respectively, which brings the total number of detainees to 9,
Kavkaz Uzel
reported on May 22, 2015.
One person was detained in connection with the May 19 blaze, and three over the April 20 fire in Khatai district.
Gazanfar Novruzov, who served as the deputy head of Executive Power of Binagadi District in 2012-2013, was sentenced to four months in prison on charges of infringement of fire safety rules and abuse of official power,
News.az
reported. He was reportedly in charge of cladding buildings with polyurethane during his tenure, according to
News.az
.
Three people arrested in connection with the April 10 fire in Khatai district included Farid Saidgov, manager of TNH company that carried out building coating, TNH director Zaur Ashrafov and his deputy Nusrat Mukhtarov,
Kavkaz Uzel
reported.
According to
Kavkaz Uzel
, 15 people were killed in the May 19, 2015 fire caused by inflammable plastic cladding used to decorate buildings. Other media outlets estimated the death toll at
16
. Sixty-five residents were injured and hospitalized.
A criminal case into the May 19 incident was filed, and Miryusikh Mahmudov, whose company was responsible for cladding the building, was detained on May 19, 2015.
Four others were also arrested on charges of violating fire safety and abuse of power.
In an exclusive interview with Meydan TV, National Council of Democratic Forces (NCDF) Chairman Jamil
Hasanli
commented that Mahmudov was “only an executor.”
“His company does not produce that material, they only buy it. And the producer is in Azerbaijan. Proper licenses need to be acquired for every single company to start functioning. The media has been writing about this for a long time, but no one has paid attention,” Hasanli noted.
