BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 10. Preliminary investigative actions resulted in the identification of illegal acts by three officials of the Republican Perinatal Center in Baku, the press service of the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office told Trend.
The collected evidence enabled to reveal well-founded suspicions that the center's director, Mehriban Abasguliyeva did not properly organize compliance with fire safety rules in the institution, allowing improper operation of medical equipment in the room on the fourth floor, where the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, and Intensive Therapy is located, an exceeding of the norm for the operation of medical equipment in the room, and that the malfunction of the electrical equipment that occurred in the previous days wasn't timely rectified.
The investigation also identified well-founded suspicions that the head of the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation, and Intensive Therapy Hamlet Mustafayev, and the head of the Department of Auxiliary Services Elnur Ahmadli, were violating fire safety rules by using non-standard electrical devices in the institution, failing to timely rectify malfunctions in electrical devices, which could lead to accidents, and placing and operating numerous pieces of medical equipment in the room where patients were located without considering the power capacity of electrical lines.
As a result of the aforementioned, incubators and other medical
equipment designed for the treatment of newborns were not used in
accordance with standards, and the fire alarm devices were
non-functional. A fire, caused by electrical line overload, spread
throughout the premises, resulting in the deaths of four infants
and significant material damage to the medical institution.
Mustafayev and Ahmadli have been charged under Article 225.3, and
Mehriban Abasguliyeva has been charged under Article 314.3 of the
Criminal Code of Azerbaijan.
Charges have been brought against them in accordance with these articles, and based on the court's decision, a resolution on the imposition of a preventive measure in the form of house arrest has been issued for all three accused.
Currently, investigative and operational measures are ongoing to establish other unlawful actions of the accused, the involvement of other individuals who violated the law in the context of this criminal case, and to hold them accountable.
Additional information on the progress and results of the investigation will be provided to the public.
Earlier, the General Prosecutor's Office initiated a criminal case under Articles 225.3 (violation of fire safety rules resulting in the death of two or more persons by negligence) and 314.3 (negligence resulting in the death of two or more persons) of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Azerbaijan following a fire that occurred at an administrative building of the Perinatal Center on January 9.
The preliminary investigation was entrusted to the investigative department of the Prosecutor General's Office.