Associated Press
Jan 20 2007

Hackers attack Gorbachev’s Web site over 1990 demonstration in Azerbaijan

By Associated Press ©

Moscow, 20 January 2007 – Hackers attacked the Web site of a
foundation run by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, accusing
him of brutally suppressing a pro-independence demonstration in
Soviet Azerbaijan in 1990.

The perpetrators posted photographs of the suppressed rally on the
Web site and published an open letter to the former leader, blaming
him for the deaths of more 130 people – a tragedy known in Azerbaijan
as the Black January.

The site was down by Saturday afternoon.

Fueled by the conflict over the disputed territory of
Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous region inside Azerbaijan populated
mostly by ethnic Armenians, pogroms broke out against Armenians in
Azerbaijan’s capital Baku in January 1990, forcing Soviet troops to
intervene and evacuate many Armenians.

Thousands rallied in Baku demanding the ouster of communist officials
and independence from the Soviet Union, causing Soviet troops to
storm the capital late at night on Jan. 19, 1990.

Shootings and violent clashes lasted several days, leaving 134 people
dead and more than 770 wounded. International rights groups said the
force used against the demonstrators was excessive and
disproportionate.

Azerbaijan gained independence in 1991 after the Soviet collapse.

No one from Gorbachev’s foundation was immediately available for
comment. It was unclear if the site’s owners took it down after
learning of the hack, or if it was taken down by hackers.

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990, Gorbachev maintains an active
public life running the Gorbachev Foundation – an organization that
deals with international issues including globalization, security,
weapons of mass destruction, environmental and natural resources and
poverty.