On July 24, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree depriving Movlam Shikhaliyev, Sahib Alakbarov, and Yasin Mammadov of high military rank and state awards, the Press Office of the Azerbaijani President reported.

According to the order, it was signed based on the entry into legal force of the court verdict on the conviction of Movlam Shikhaliyev, Sahib Alakbarov, and Yasin Mammadov for committing serious and particularly serious crimes and the submissions of the Baku Military Court.

According to the order, Movlam Shikhaliyev was deprived of the highest military rank of major-general, the 3rd class "For service to the country" order, "For the country" and "For military services" medals. Sahib Alakbarov and Yasin Mammadov were deprived of the "For the Fatherland" medal.

Notably, Movlam Shikhaliyev, who was the head of the General Investigation Department of the abolished Ministry of National Security (MNS), has been in prison since April 2021. He was sentenced to 12 years, Yasin Mammadov, who was the deputy head of the investigation department, was sentenced to 10 years and six months, Vusal Alakbarov, who was the head of the 2nd department of the investigation department, was sentenced to 11 years and two months, and Sahib Alakbarov, who was the deputy head of the methodological assistance and forensics department of the investigation department, was sentenced to 8 years. Reportedly, they expropriated EUR 2.7 million of people by extortion and threats.