Gorbachev Guilty of Bloodshed in Baku - the Prosecutor`s Office of Azerbaijan

The responsibility for the bloodshed in Baku in January 1990 lies with the Soviet leadership and personally the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, said Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan.

As stated by First Deputy Prosecutor General of Azerbaijan, Rustam Usubov, Gorbachev, "grossly violated paragraph 119 of the Russian Constitution and paragraph 71 of the Constitution of Azerbaijan, and gave an illegal decree declaring a state of emergency in Baku and entering the army into the city."

According to Usubov, the Azerbaijani television was undermined and the power block was exploded by the then Chairman of the Azerbaijan State Security Committee Vagif Huseynov and representatives who had come from Moscow.

First, the case was led by the Federal Prosecutor's Office, and it was a mistake of the then leadership of the republic. The Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan started to investigate the case too late – on February 14, 1992.

Two years later, it was very difficult to conduct the investigation, as certain evidence had been eliminated. Investigative activities were carried out both in Baku and Moscow. The investigators questioned high-ranking officials of the Central Committee of the CPSU, which were sent to Baku in January 1990. However, Gorbachev and Bakatin avoided answering the questions.

Girenko, Bobkov, Mikhailov and Yazov were questioned, while Gorbachev evaded the investigation.

At the same time in 1992, Russian prosecutors failed to provide materials of the 68-volume criminal case on the January events to Azerbaijan. To date, the Prosecutor's Office of Azerbaijan requires the criminal case, but still cannot get the materials, Usubov told journalists. -06D--