"Azerbaijan Law Officials Purged For Abuses"

[...]

Two workers at the Azerbaijan SSR's Kutkashenskiy Agro-Industrial Association, general director A. Danakyan and accountant A. Bagdasaryan, [were] indicted groundlessly for embezzlement and sentenced to the supreme penalty by the Azerbaijan SSR Supreme Court, [and] were falsely imprisoned for around 3 years, 21 months of which were passed in the death cell. However, a further, more careful and objective investigation showed that the embezzlement charge brought against these people was known to have been unsupported by evidence. In other words, a most flagrant case of abuse of power had occurred.

K. Bagirov, first secretary of the Azerbaijan Communist Party Central Committee, has informed the editorial office that the article "Too Long a Wait" was examined at the republic's Communist Party Central Committee. A pointed and principled assessment was made of the illegality that occurred during the investigation and the trial which resulted in director A. Danakyan and accountant A. Bagdasaryan being sentenced to death and imprisoned without grounds. No one responded to their numerous petitions. Only when the USSR Supreme Court quashed the sentence of the republic supreme court and the charges made against Danakyan and Bagdasaryan failed to be substantiated in a new investigation was the case against them dismissed.

The Azerbaijan Communist Party Central Committee analyzed the facts of these most flagrant breaches of socialist legality and imposed severe party and disciplinary penalties on all responsible officials guilty of illegality in this case.

A. Sultanov, first deputy republic prosecutor, and V. Bogomolov, deputy republic prosecutor, were severely reprimanded for failure to ensure socialist legality during the investigation and judicial examination of criminal cases, including the case of Bagdasaryan; they have been dismissed from their posts. E Agamirov, former chief of the department in charge of the supervision of inquiries and investigation in the Azerbaijan SSR Prosecutor's Office internal affairs bodies, and T. Akhmedov, former assistant to the Kutkashenskiy Rayon prosecutor, who pressed the state prosecution in court, have been dismissed from the organs of the prosecutor's office, the latter also being expelled from the CPSU. Sh. Osmanov, investigator in charge of particularly important cases in the Azerbaijan SSR Internal Affairs Department, has also been dismissed from his post and expelled from the CPSU for groundlessly instituting criminal proceedings against Bagdasaryan and others. A. Kafarov, who handed down the conviction, has been recalled prematurely from his position as a member of the republic Supreme Court.

I. Ismailov, former chairman of the Azerbaijan SSR Supreme Court, and A. Zamanov, former republican prosecutor, have been severely reprimanded. Leaders in the republic Internal Affairs Department Investigation Administration A. Rafiyev and A. Guliyev-the latter having been dismissed from the internal affairs organ-- who showed indifference to the petitions from the accused and thus committed impermissible errors during the investigation, have been punished by the party.

Guilty workers in the prosecutor's office, the militia, and court have been subject to party and disciplinary proceedings for all other instances of illegality detected. The republic party organization has adopted a number of measures designed both to improve the work style and methods of law-enforcement organs, the selection, placement, and training of cadres, and the ousting of compromised officials and to increase accountability and discipline. These questions were the subject of serious discussion at the Azerbaijan Communist Party Bureau.

[Izvestia. August 5, 1987]