Two individuals, including the head of the Melissa Group construction company, Qalib Mammadov, and an excavator operator, Qala Eynullayev, have been arrested in connection with controversial demolition work in the Alatava neighbourhood of Baku on March 28. 

The detentions come after public outcry over an incident on March 27 in which demolition work reportedly continued while residents were still inside their homes. Eyewitnesses allege that heavy machinery, including an excavator, struck a residential building despite an active court order prohibiting such action near the property. 

One resident, Habib Hajiyev, told RFE/RL’s Azerbaijan bureau that at least one person required hospitalisation after the demolition. Residents say the company violated court restrictions and drove machinery directly onto the house, endangering lives, including a three-year-old child and an elderly person with a chronic illness.

According to court reports, Mammadov and Eynullayev were placed under pre-trial detention for one month following a submission from investigators. They are charged under Articles 32.3 (organising or leading a group involved in a crime) and 186.2.2 (intentional destruction of property using dangerous means or causing serious consequences) of Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed the opening of a criminal case and the detention of both the site foreman and the excavator operator. 

However, representatives of the construction firm claim the demolition was not officially authorised. A spokesperson from Feba MTK, part of the Melissa Group holding, told Xəzər TV that workers had acted without approval, calling the incident a “mistake”. 

The company claims it had successfully relocated 54 out of 55 families from the area and had offered AZN651,000 (approx. $383,500) to the remaining household, above market value — a claim the family disputes, saying no reasonable offer was ever made.

Meanwhile, the State Committee for Urban Planning and Architecture confirmed that the demolition had no legal permit. A site inspection by the Baku City Department on March 27 found that the works were being carried out without full resident consent and in violation of existing regulations. All work was halted and officially documented. The committee stated that case materials would be forwarded to law enforcement for investigation into property damage. 

Families affected by the demolition have reported being left without electricity, and said their buildings’ staircases and sewage systems were deliberately destroyed during holidays. “

Since last summer, they've been digging around the side of our house, cutting off our water and electricity, walking on us, or threatening us. We complained, and they got even angrier. Imagine if they demolish your house, you report it to the police, you go to the police station, and they say, 'We let them go, you don't know who these people are working for?’," Aytaj Hajiyeva said in a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter). Hajiyeva, tweeting as Mrs Lazarus, was one of the tenants and witnesses who was the first to report the incident.

“I'm still in shock. They've been preparing for this for days. They destroyed the stairs, cut off the water, and cut off the light so that we'd die inside! Why are you shocked, friends? They did the same thing to another family at the end of the year. We haven't heard from them. They left after that incident,” Hajiyeva continued. 

No comment has yet been obtained from the defendants, their legal representatives or other company staff involved.