Court upholds verdict to those guilty of house collapse in Baku

On October 31, the Baku Appeal Court, chaired by Judge Dzhamal Ramazanov, finished considering the case a consideration of case about collapse in summer of 2007 of an unfinished multi-storey building in Baku. The appeal petition lodged by the workers of the LLC "Mutafakkir" building company was left unsatisfied.

During collapse on August 28, 2007, of the unfinished building in Baku 25 persons were killed and 3 wounded. A special governmental commission was set up to investigate the reasons of the tragedy. It was established that the concrete, as sampled from the ruins, used for construction was three times below the grade as specified in the project.

On May 7, 2008, the Azerbaijani Court for Grave Crimes sentenced Asker Aliev, Chief Engineer of "Mutafakkir" to 9 years of imprisonment, foreman Farkhad Gasanov - to 7 years, two other foremen Gadir Salimov and Mursal Khakverdiev - to 5 years, and architect Eldar Ragimov - to 4.5 years of imprisonment.

The defendants were charged of breaching labour safety regulations and construction safety rules, which resulted in loss of people, and of abusing their service positions.

Gadir Salimov, Eldar Ragimov and Mursal Khakverdiev will serve their terms in colonies-settlements. Director General of "Mutafakkir" Ali Muradov died on November 19, 2007, from congestive heart failure in the course of investigation.