Azerbaijani Vice Premier’s grandson accused of causing fatal car crash

Two luxury cars racing along the Baku airport highway has resulted in a fatal car crash, killing two and heavily injuring three people. According to early reports, Nail Allahverdiyev, 21 (grandson of Ali Hasanov, Azerbaijani Vice Premier and the Chair of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs), who was driving a Mercedes Geländewagen, caused the accident.

The driver, who was speeding at 220km/h (in a 70km/h zone), lost control of the vehicle and first collided with another vehicle and then knocked down and killed a pedestrian on the crosswalk. Afterwards, the car veered into another lane, hitting two more pedestrians. Then it made a U-turn and caught on fire. A passenger of the Mercedes was also killed in the accident. Three people, including a married couple from Turkey, were seriously injured. Nail Allahverdiyev was taken to hospital with severe burns.

Shortly after the accident, some media outlets tried to defend the Vice Premier’s grandson, claiming Allahverdiyev wasn’t behind the wheel and that it was the Mercedes’ passenger who was driving the car. However, as the Interior Ministry Spokesperson, Ehsan Zahidov, told virtualaz.org news agency the next morning, having examined CCTV footage the police concluded that it was Allahverdiyev who was driving the car.

Nail Allahverdiyev is not only the Vice Premier’s grandson, but also the son-in-law of the Chair of the State Border Guard Service, Gen. Elchin Quliyev. He married Hasnov’s daughter just a month ago.

Ali Hasanov, the Chair of the State Committee for Refugees and IDPs, refused to comment on the accident. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t understand why my name is bandied about in the mass media. In a legal state everyone should bear individual liability. I wish you could realize that,” gununsesi.info news agency cited Hasanov as saying.

This accident stirred up a lot of debate among the public. We offer some quotes from social media, as usual, on condition of anonymity of the authors.

“Ali Hasanov could have been forgiven that motor pool if he had been, let’s say, the Minister of Customs or Taxes. But he is responsible for the refugees’ lives. How is he now going to justify himself before them for a miserable social benefit of AZN 36.36 (USD 20)?”

“Allah’s punishment befell Ali Hasanov for everything he did to the refugees. Let them now inspect the settlements he built; let them check how much money he misappropriated from those construction works. All commercial and welfare facilities are titled to his relatives. Otherwise, where did his offspring got a car worth USD 250 000  from? By the way, it is said that it’s not the only car he owns.”

“I’ve always said and written that we have Organized Criminal Groups, comprising of government officials and MPs’ children! And they are ‘protected’ by their moms and dads! They pose a threat not only to ordinary citizens, but also to the entire society and state security. So, let our law enforcement agencies think about where it can lead us to.”

“Ali Hasanov, among other things, gave our enemies ‘an opening’ in the information war. How is the Chair of the Refugees Committee going to represent those refugees and IDPs at international meetings?”

“If I were the President, I would have sent that young man to the Karabakh frontline, in the hardest position, so that he could become familiar with his coevals’ living conditions.”