Russian citizen of Armenian descent, Marat Ueldanov-Galustyan, was sentenced to 8 years in prison in Baku on Friday.

Judge Samir Aliyev presided over the closed trial during which the sentence was read out.

Ueldanov-Galustyan is the worker of Austrian catering company Do&Co. He was in on a business trip in Baku within the framework of Formula 1 racing. However, Ueldanov-Galustyan didn’t get in touch upon arriving there.

He is charged with illegal preparation, production, acquisition, keeping, transporting, import or sale of large amounts of narcotic or psychotropic substances or precursors

According to Russian media outlets, the Russian Embassy in Azerbaijan proposed the relatives of the arrestee to treat with understanding the peculiarities of that country, where “the Armenian descent makes it extremely difficult to defend him.”

The charge on drug trafficking is used by Azerbaijan in respect of political prisoners or personae non grata.