Shahin Shykhlinski and his son were convicted in the case of an attack on a security officer.

A court in Yekaterinburg sentenced the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Urals, Shahin Shykhlinski, and his son, Mutvala, to prison terms, finding them guilty of using violence against a special forces soldier during his arrest.

As reported by the Caucasian Knot, in March, the Kirovsky District Court of Yekaterinburg sentenced the former head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in the Urals, Shahin Shykhlinski, to 22 years in a maximum-security prison colony. Six other defendants in the case of the murder of local entrepreneurs were sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 to 20 years.

On April 13, the Kirovsky Court of Yekaterinburg sentenced Shakhin Shykhlinsky to nine years in a maximum-security penal colony, and his son, Mutvala Shykhlinsky, to eight years in a general-security penal colony for the use of violence against a government official (Part 2, Article 318 of the Russian Criminal Code), Kommersant reports.

Considering that the elder Shykhlinsky has already been sentenced to 22 years in prison, his combined sentence was 24 years in prison. He will spend the first four years in prison, and the rest in a maximum-security penal colony, the publication writes.

As a reminder, Shahin Shykhlinski was detained on July 1, 2025, in Yekaterinburg. On July 16 of that year, his son, Mutvala, was arrested on charges of assaulting a security officer: on the day of his father's detention, Mutvala Shykhlinski was driving a Gelendvagen and struck a special forces soldier.

Muttvala Shykhlinski stated in court that he did not intentionally harm the government official. "It wasn't intentional. I didn't see him; he was to my right, as was later revealed. I deeply regret what happened," he said.

Shahin Shykhlinski filed a complaint with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev regarding the actions of Russian security forces during his and his son's detention. "We were subjected to harsh and inhumane treatment, forcibly pulled out of the car, thrown to the ground, subjected to psychological and physical pressure, and subjected to offensive language... The staff informed us that the reason for this treatment was the recent political tensions between Azerbaijan and Russia. All of this is a clear example of biased and politically motivated treatment. I would like to point out that both my son and I are qualified lawyers and have never committed any unlawful acts," he stated. Relations between Moscow and Baku significantly deteriorated after the crash of an Azerbaijan Airlines plane with 67 people on board from Baku to Grozny in Kazakhstan on December 25, 2024. More details can be found in the "Caucasian Knot" report "Baku-Grozny Air Crash" and in the article "Geopolitical Confrontation: What the AZAL Plane Crash Led to".

The latest round of deterioration in relations between the two countries has been marked by ethnic raids in Russia and retaliatory detentions of Russians in Azerbaijan. Baku accuses Russian authorities of extrajudicial killings of Azerbaijanis, and footage of the brutal detention of Russians in Baku appears to be a demonstrative response to Moscow's actions, according to the "Caucasian Knot" report "Crisis in Relations between Azerbaijan and Russia".

Materials on the deterioration of relations between the two countries have been collected by the "Caucasian Knot" on the thematic page "Collapse of Ties between Baku and Moscow".