SUMGAYIT – Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR Aslan Ismayilov SUMGAYIT - BEGINNING OF THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR 1 Aslan Ismayilov ЧАШЫОЬЛУ 2011 Aslan Ismayilov Sumgayit – Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR Baku Aslan Ismayilov Sumgayit – Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR Baku Translated by Vagif Ismayil and Vusal Kazimli 2 SUMGAYIT – Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR SUMGAYIT PROCEEDINGS 3 Aslan Ismayilov 4 SUMGAYIT – Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR HOW I WAS APPOINTED AS THE PUBLIC PROSECUTOR IN THE CASE AND OBTAINED INSIGHT OF IT Dear readers! Before I start telling you about Sumgayit events, which I firmly believe are of vital importance for Azerbaijan, and in the trial of which I represented the government, about peripeteia of this trial and other happenings which became echoes and continuation of the tragedy in Sumgayit, and finally about inferences I made about all the abovementioned as early as in 1989, I would like to give you some brief background about myself, in order to demonstrate you that I was not involved in the process occasionally and that my conclusions and position regarding the case are well grounded. Thus, after graduating from the Law Faculty of of the Kuban State University of Russia with honours, I was appointed to the Neftekumsk district court of the Stavropol region as an interne. After the lapse of some time I became the assistant for Mr Krasnoperov, the chairman of the court, who used to be the chairman of the Altay region court and was known as a good professional. The existing legislation at that time allowed two people’s assessors to participate in the court trials in the capacity of judges alongside with the actual judge. After consultations of Mr Krasnoperov with the highest authorities of the district I was elected as a people’s assessor and empowered with the function of a judge. After a brief period of work in this capacity, namely in April 1984 I was transferred to the post of judge in the Andropovsky district people’s court of the Stravropolskiy region. In those days Mr Alexander Ivanovich Kuzminov was the chairman of the Andropovsky district court with whom I had purely business relations. Observing my due diligence to work, he started after some time transferring me his own assignments related to making generalization (summarising) of the judicial experience. In other words, Kuzminov started having a very positive opinion on me. One day he asked me to chair a case with the claim to restore a woman with the surname Pushkarskaya in her work, as he had to urgently go to the neighbouring town of Pyatigorsk. He asked me to substitute him in the process and dismiss the complaint. It meant that Kuzminov for the first time asked me to decide the case in a definitely ordered in advance manner. I did not refuse immediately and said that I would adopt the decision after the consideration of the case. Feeling my hesitation he said: “Chair the trial, if you want to adopt a decision on her restoration back to her post, please postpone the trial, I will come back tomorrow and adopt the decision myself”. Then he added that it was a very 5 Aslan Ismayilov important case, as it was the personal errand of Boris Biryukov, the first secretary of the district party committee. I must note that by that time Biryukov had already been working in the capacity of the secretary of the party committee over 40 years and known as an extremely ruthless man. At three o’clock in the afternoon I began the process. The merits of the case were the following: Pushkarskaya worked in the district union of consumers (“Raypo”). By profession she was an economist. The chairman of the Raypo was Mr Grin, Greek by nationality, who was a close friend of Biryukov. Mr Grin organized such trick at work: some goods and products which were brought to the district from remote regions were registered as partially or fully spoiled and unsuitable for consumption, knowing in advance that nobody would examine the quality of the goods and products transported from Siberia. Then those “spoiled” goods and products were illegally sold. Mrs Pushkarskaya was the person assigned to conduct this illegal operation, yet she refused to fulfil it and as a result was dismissed from her post. She complained to the court claiming to be restored in her post. In the process of the hearing I paid attention that despite her Russian surname she did not look like a Russian. Later it became known that she was a Karachay by nationality. She explained that after marrying a Russian man her parents turned away from her. Then her husband left her with three children. She needed her job to support small children, and her dismissal was completely unlawful. I was trapped in a very tricky situation: on the one hand, I could not fulfil the errand of Kuzminov whom I respected, and with whom I had very good relations; on the other hand, I knew exactly that if I would have postponed the process for the next day, Kuzminov would have definitely dismissed the claim and not restored her back to her job. So, I decided to satisfy the complaint of this woman and adopt a decision in her favour and restore her in her previous work. On the same day, at approximately 9 pm Mr Kuzminov came to my house. He looked very disappointed and told me: “Didn’t I request you to postpone the process?” Then he repeated several times that it was the instruction of the first secretary and because of my decision he would now have serious problems with Mr Biryukov. I admitted that I had not acted properly towards Mr Kuzminov; nevertheless, I explained the reason of my behaviour and in order not to make him feel awkward in the presence of Biryukov, I asked Mr Kuzminov to tell him the truth. Several days later Mr Kuzminov informed me that the case of Pushkarskaya was submitted discussion to the bureau of the district party committee. I was 26 years old then and did not know majority of the 6 SUMGAYIT – Beginning of the Collapse of the USSR officials in the district as I was appointed not long ago. The meeting was chaired by Mr Biryukov and attended by some bureau members whom I knew, and by some whom I did not; the deputy chairman of the court of the Region Mrs Fedorova, and other persons. There was also an aged person sitting next to the first secretary. As soon as Biryukov opened the sitting of the bureau, he mentioned that some facts of violations are taking place in the Andropovsk district court. Then he added that the main perpetrator of those violations was an inexperienced and newly appointed judge Aslan Ismayilov, described by the senior officials of the law-enforcement bodies as “ill-bred and extremely self-satisfied”. Then the floor was given to the chief of the district militia Colonel Chernov. I must note that Chernov used to be the chief of militia in the town of Georgiyevsk; hence due to the violations in his work he was “exiled” to Andropovsk, relatively a small district as a sign of punishment. He spoke in the same spirit as the previous speaker, characterized me as “a self- satisfied” man lacking experience and ignoring everyone. Then the floor was given to the prosecutor of the district Mr Panin who did not conceal his dissatisfaction with me. It was true that he had “reasons” for it, because I had returned several of his cases back to him as their investigations were not completed. Mr Panin also repeated the previous speakers and accused me in judicial misconduct. Interrupting him I asked why he accused me in violations. My decision on the case was valid; despite it was appealed, the Region court did not handle it yet. In other words, my judgement was not overruled, therefore the prosecutor supposed to have no reasons and right to accuse me in the breaching of law. After my interruption, the Deputy Prosecutor of the Region Sherbakov, who was also present in the sitting, immediately stood up and threw me in a rude manner: “Who are you to behave impudently like this and interrupt others?” I did not keep silent and protested against his offence. The aged man who was sitting next to the first secretary told me to leave the room and wait in the corridor, and I followed. The discussion lasted about an hour. Then Mr Kuzminov appeared at the door and invited me in. The stranger, whom I had described before, introduced himself. It was Mr Yeremin, the second secretary of the Stavropol region party committee. He advised me to defend my right position all the time and to complain to him if any problems occur in the future. These words were unexpected for me. In 1987 there was election of judges held in the USSR. According to the existing at that time regulations, it was necessary to have the reference of the first secretary of the district party committee to be elected as a judge. Naturally, Biryukov did not write any reference for me, so I started looking 7 Aslan Ismayilov for a new job. Exactly at that time, Mr Kuzminov rang me up and said that we were urgently invited to Stravropol. We came to Mr Viktor Limanov, the chief of the Department of Justice of the Stavropol region, and together with him we went to the party committee of the Stavropol region where we were received by Mr Yeremin.