Several senior officials in Azerbaijan once again detained on corruption charges. This time – military officers.

Several senior military officials  in Azerbaijan have been detained on charges of abuse of power and forgery – in particular, Lieutenant General Afgan Nagiyev, Deputy Head of the State Border Service. He is one of many senior officials who has been detained over the past six months. The authorities attribute this to the increased fight against corruption, but a significant part of society does not believe this story.

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Afghan Nagiyev has received many government awards, including the Order For Merit to the Fatherland. He was detained following a recent incident when a boat of Azerbaijani fishermen (possibly poachers) somehow passed through the Azerbaijani-owned part of the Caspian Sea and sailed to the sea border with Kazakhstan. There, Kazakh border guards fired at them, and one of the fishermen died. Among other things that Nagiyev was accused of regarding this incident, it is assumed that he, along with his employees, took bribes from fishermen in exchange for allowing them to engage in poaching. This story was reported by 1news.

The active “hunt for corrupt officials” began in Azerbaijan in December 2019, when the head of administration of one of the country’s regions was arrested. He was accused of corruption and misappropriation of public funds. Four more “district owners” were then arrested on similar charges, and most recently, the deputy minister of culture and tourism, who was responsible for architecture. The deputy minister, among other things, was declared the main reason why historical buildings had been demolished in Baku over the past several years.

The authorities say that they suddenly discovered there were many corrupt high-ranking officials and began to systematically “weed them out.” But many people do not believe that this discovery happened “all of a sudden.” The public opinion of Azerbaijani officials has long been that they are corrupt, but that people need to come to terms with them as an inevitable evil. This is why the current wave of arrests are seen by some as a “performance,” while others are blame internal conflicts within the government, which have nothing to do with restoring justice.

Some comments from social networks:

“It’s remarkable that the head of the border service was not touched. Like the Minister of Culture. So allegedly, they themselves are good, but those around them are all bribe-takers?”

“What a blessing! Now, finally, our borders and culture will be put straight! You don’t know whether to laugh or cry.”

“The government is playing games: it silences those who disobey them or pursue their own interests.”