The convicted Russian in Azerbaijan has found himself in a severe mental state.
The condition of the convicted Russian citizen Dmitry Fedorov in Azerbaijan has sharply deteriorated, reported lawyer Elchin Sadigov. The defense stated the need to consider the issue of Fedorov's release from further serving his sentence.
As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on July 1, 2025, a court in Baku arrested eight Russian citizens accused of drug trafficking and cybercrimes. According to the indictment, the detainees, as a result of an operation related to drug trafficking from Iran, planned to sell the acquired substances in Baku. On June 19, the Baku Serious Crimes Court sentenced Sergey Safronov, Anton Drachyov, Dmitry Bezugly, and Valery Dulov to four years in prison. Dmitry Fedorov, Boris Timoshov, Alexey Vasilchenko, and Ilya Bezugly received three years in prison each.
In Azerbaijan, the mental state of Russian citizen Dmitry Fedorov has sharply deteriorated, reported his lawyer Elchin Sadigov to the correspondent of the "Caucasian Knot".
According to the defender, Fedorov began experiencing hallucinations and consciousness disturbances on July 16. "As a result, his mental state has reached a level that is dangerous both for himself and for those around him. My client's mother has been in Baku for a week. During a visit at Baku's SIZO-1, the young man did not recognize his mother. He remembers almost nothing," said the lawyer.
The defender noted that together with Fedorov's mother, he is trying to obtain information about the young man's illness from the Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice, but so far there have been no results. "On August 5, we were also at the Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice, but we were not allowed to see the psychiatrist who examined Dmitry. We were told that she does not have the authority (to provide information about the condition of the prisoner)," continued the lawyer.
Sadigov also noted that attempts by the defender and Fedorov's mother to get an appointment with the head of the clinic of the Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice, Ramil Guseynzade, also proved futile. "The inspector who received us first stated that he did not know the diagnosis given to Dmitry, and then said that he was not authorized to disclose it. We only managed to find out about the medications prescribed to Fedorov. It turned out that they are mainly used in the treatment of schizophrenia," noted Sadigov.
Sadigov also published a post on Facebook* demanding that the Main Medical Department of the Ministry of Justice provide information about Fedorov's diagnosis, the course of the disease, and the treatment being conducted. According to Sadigov, the young man continues to be held in a regular cell in Baku's SIZO-1.
The lawyer noted that 24-year-old Fedorov is a resident of St. Petersburg and is an architect by education. He arrived in Baku in April 2025 and worked online.
According to the defender, Fedorov and the other defendants in the case do not admit their guilt, while the examination did not confirm the use of drugs by the accused. "An appeal has been filed against the sentence, but the complaint has not yet been accepted for consideration," emphasized Sadigov.
The lawyer answered affirmatively to the question of whether Fedorov's condition provides grounds for release from further serving his sentence. "If a person is in an insane state, then according to the law, he must be released from further serving his sentence," said the lawyer.
He noted that upon receiving the diagnosis established by the doctors, the defense will begin legal steps to release Fedorov from punishment.
It should be noted that in mid-May, Igor Zabolotsky and Ilnur Valitov were sentenced to three years in prison in a case related to the legalization of funds obtained through cybercrime. In April, a Baku court sentenced Russian citizen Alexander Vaysero to four years, finding him guilty of money laundering.
Trials of representatives of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Yekaterinburg and Russian citizens in Baku are synchronous, but the resolution of the problem related to the crash of the AZAL plane has prepared the ground for finding mechanisms for the release of citizens of both countries, analysts in Azerbaijan believe.
Relations between Moscow and Baku have noticeably deteriorated after the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024, which was flying from Baku to Grozny. More details can be read in the "Caucasian Knot" reference "The crash of the Baku-Grozny flight" and in the article "Geopolitical confrontation: what the AZAL plane crash led to".
Indicators of the deterioration of relations between the two countries have been ethnic sweeps in Russia and retaliatory detentions of Russians in Azerbaijan. Baku accused the Russian authorities of extrajudicial reprisals against Azerbaijanis, while footage of the harsh detention of Russians in Baku appears to be a demonstrative response to Moscow's actions, according to the "Caucasian Knot" reference "The crisis in Azerbaijan-Russia relations".
It should be noted that official Baku and Moscow reported on April 15 about the resolution of the consequences of the AZAL airline plane crash, including regarding compensation. The cause of the tragedy was cited as "unintentional action of the air defense system".