Azerbaijani Prosecutor General Office: USSR leadership creates obstacles to reveal real organizers of Sumgayit events

The USSR leadership created obstacles to sentence real organizers of the Sumgayit events, Deputy Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, Rustam Usubov, said during a presentation of the website sumqait.com at the Academy of Public Administration.

"According to the investigation materials, 52-year-old Armenian Eduard Grigoryan was sentenced three times. He was in prison for a total of 9 years, two months and 13 days. He gave drinks and drugs. He provoked teenagers and was guilty of various criminal elements. The subversive specially trained group incited them to commit the events.

"Shouting "Karabakh is ours!" and "Smite the Armenians!", the group directed them to the apartments where Armenians refusing to transfer money to Karabakh and Krunk organizations lived. He actively participated in robberies and other crimes, and personally killed 6 Armenians," Usubov said.

He said that Grigoryan was arrested by chance. He was sentenced after the events when he was identified by injured Armenian girls - sisters Marina and Karina Mezhlumian.

"If Grigoryan was not identified by the injured Armenians, then he is likely to be released as a randomly arrested person, just because he was Armenian. His brothers, detained in the course of those events, were released," Usubov said.

He said that the investigation revealed that besides Eduard Grigoryan, his two brothers also participated in the looting of Armenian apartments during those events.

Eduard Grigoryan and his brothers maintained contact with emissaries from the Nagorno-Karabakh. They received addresses of the Armenians coming from Karabakh who did not recognize Armenian separatism and did not transfer money to their funds. They purchased special pills and alcohol. Then Grigoryan gathered people with criminal tendencies, like himself, and gave them alcohol and special pills that cause aggression. He said that there was a good chance for the robbery and plunder. He led them away to the square, where there was a peace rally against Armenian claims to Karabakh.

Introducing himself as an Azerbaijani who had run from the Armenian town of Kapan, Grigoryan told rally participants about the extermination of Azerbaijani civilians by the Armenians, urging the audience for vengeance. Then he led the looting of Armenian apartments with 100 people.

The Academy of Public Administration under the Azerbaijani president held a presentation of the website sumqait.com, dedicated to the events of 1988.

"This website has been prepared to expose the false Armenian propaganda. Armenians use Sumgayit events to justify their policy of occupation. They represent these events as an act organized by the Azerbaijanis," the Chief of the Azerbaijani Presidential Administration's Work with Law Enforcement Agencies Department Fuad Alasgarov said at the presentation.

He said that after these events the Armenians put forward the idea of the impossible coexistence of Armenians and Azerbaijanis in one country. Under this pretext, they committed atrocities against the Azerbaijani people.

Alasgarov said that Armenians have recently labeled Sumgayit events as genocide and appealed to the international organizations.

The website www.sumqait.com has been created by the presidential administration. It operates in Azerbaijani, Russian and English. The website provides information about the causes and the organizers of the Sumgayit events, including the nationalist and terrorist organizations, fueled by Armenia.

As a result of the clashes in Sumgayit on Feb. 27-28, 1988, 32 people of different nationalities were killed. Roughly 26 were Armenians, six were Azerbaijanis.


/Trend/