Azerbaijani Suspect Formally Charged With Russian Murder

Orkhan Zeynalov (right) is escorted to a courtroom in Moscow on October 17.

An Azerbaijani citizen suspected in the high-profile stabbing death of a Russian man in Moscow has officially been charged with murder.

Moscow Investigative Committee spokesman Sergei Stukalov said on October 18 that investigators had officially charged Orkhan Zeynalov with the murder of Yegor Shcherbakov on October 10.

Zeynalov was arrested on October 15 and ordered into pretrial detention until December 10.

He pleaded not guilty.

Shcherbakov's death sparked violent antimigrant riots in Moscow's southern Biryulyovo district on October 13.

Official roundups of migrants also followed.

Azerbaijan's Embassy in Moscow delivered a note to the Russian Foreign Ministry on October 16, protesting what it called a violation of Zeynalov's presumption of innocence and rights, his rough treatment by police, and by reports in Russian media calling him a criminal before he had been put on trial.

A court in Moscow on October 18 also sanctioned the arrest of a third suspect in the Biryulyovo riots. All three face hooliganism charges.

Based on reporting by Interfax and ITAR-TASS