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Baku drug rehab center director arrested over 2 March fire accident

04 May 2018 10:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku’s Nasimi District Court on Friday considered a petition filed by an investigative body to sentence the director of the Republican Drug Rehabilitation Center, Telman Mammadhasanov, department head Azad Alakbarov and other official in connection with the fatal fire accident at the Center which killed scores of patients.

The court upheld the petition and sentenced the abovementioned persons to 3 months in prison, APA has learned.

They face charges under articles 225.2 (infringement of fire safety rules that results in the death of a victim or other heavy consequences) and 308.1 (abusing official powers) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

Earlier, the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Interior Ministry said in a joint statement that upon the order of the president of Azerbaijan, procedural actions and operational and search measures were carried out, and the victims as well as the center’s medical staff have been interrogated as witnesses in order to investigate the causes of the accident and arrest those guilty of what happened.

Baku resident Mohammad Mammadov, suspected of committing arson on March 2 in the Republican Drug Rehabilitation Center, was arrested.

According to the joint statement, Mammadov diagnosed with "mental disorder as a result of drinking alcohol" was undergoing treatment at the Center.

Confessing to the crime during preliminary interrogation, Mammadov said he decided to commit suicide because of the biased attitude of his family members and the reluctance to be treated at the Center.

On March 2 around 06:00 (UTC +4 hours), he wrapped in a blanket and burned the blanket by a cigarette lighter. Then he changed his mind about committing suicide, threw the blanket onto a bed and left the Center.

Mammadov is charged as guilty under articles 120.2.4 (intentional murder committed with special cruelty), 120.2.7 (deliberate killing of two or more people), 120.2.9 (deliberate killing of a person who is in helpless condition) and 186.2.2 (intentional damage of property as a result of arson, explosion) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.

The facts were confirmed by witness testimony and records from surveillance cameras installed at the center.

A preventive measure in the form of arrest was been chosen for Mammadov upon a court decision.

A strong fire broke out at 06:10 (UTC +4) on March 2 in a one-story building of Azerbaijan’s Republican Drug Rehabilitation Center. Dozens of people died as a result of the fire, said a joint statement of the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor General’s Office, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Healthcare Ministry of Azerbaijan.