Yekaterinburg: A court hearing has been held at the Kirovsky District Court of Yekaterinburg in the criminal case against former head of the Azerbaijani diaspora Shahin Shikhlinski and his son Mutvali Shikhlinski on charges of using violence against a government representative, APA's Russia bureau reports.

According to Azeri-Press News Agency, during the trial, the prosecutor requested a sentence of 9 years of imprisonment for Shahin Shikhlinski to be served in a strict-regime penal colony, and 9 years for his son Mutvali Shikhlinski to be served in a general-regime colony. On March 5, Shahin Shikhlinski was sentenced to 22 years in prison on charges of intentional murder and attempted contract killing.

In June of last year, Russian law enforcement agencies carried out an operation against Azerbaijanis in Yekaterinburg. Force was used during the operation, and as a result, two Azerbaijani brothers, Ziyaddin and Huseyn Safarov, were killed. Other members of the Safarov family, along with several compatriots, were arrested by court order. They were charged with crimes allegedly committed in 2001, 2010, and 2011.

Later, the head of the Azerbaijani diaspora in Yekaterinburg, Shahin Shikhlinski, and his son Mutvali Shikhlinski were detained. On July 1, near 'Baku Plaza,' Federal Security Service (FSB) operatives-wearing uniforms and driving vehicles without any identification marks-attacked the car of Shahin Shikhlinski, which was being driven by his son. At that moment, Mutvali Shikhlinski lost control and hit an FSB officer with the car. In court, he stated that he regretted what happened and that the incident was not intentional.

On the same day they were detained, Shahin and Mutvali Shikhlinski were released. Some time later, a criminal case was opened against them under the charge of using violence against a government official. Initially, Mutvali was detained, and later, Shahin Shikhlinski was arrested on charges of contract murder and attempted contract murder.