Azerbaijan, Baku, 22 January / Trend corr. I.Alizadeh / In spite the fact that Askar Aliyev, the senior engineer of the 16-storey collapsed building in Baku, knew the accident rate on the construction site, he did not suspend construction, the State Prosecutor stated during the trial of the collapsed building, presided by Judge Aflatun Gasimov at the Court of Heinous Crimes of Azerbaijan on 22 January.
The building which was under construction by the company Mutaffakir collapsed on 28 August at around 6:00pm. Five employees; Emin Babayev, Aydin Ahmadov, Arzu Mammadov, Arif and Gabil Faziyevs lost their lives, four other employees - Aziaga Akhundov, Ibrahim Ibrahimov, Ramil Nazarov and Rauf Aliyev suffered serious injuries.
A criminal case was filed in accordance with Articles 222.2 (violation of safety regulations during construction, mining and other work, resulting in death and injury) and Article 222.1 (violation of safety regulations during construction work) of the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan. A preventative research group has been formed by the Prosecutor's Office and the Emergency Situations Ministry.
The Director General of Mutaffakir construction company, Ali Muradov, the company's Engineer General, Askar Aliyev, and Master Builders Farhad Hasanov and Gadir Salimov, were all detained in connection with the incident. They have each been sentenced to three months imprisonment.
The case against Muradov was dropped due to his death.
The above are accused of violation of safety regulations in the construction sector, which caused deaths.
The State Prosecutor noted that the Baku Executive Power permitted Mutaffakir to construct an additional two storeys. However, the company constructed an additional two more storeys on top of the permitted two. The company used poor-quality materials for the construction of the building.
"The company did not observe construction safety regulations, as well as the security of employees and no labour agreements were signed," the State Prosecutor said.