REMAINS OF SLAIN "BAKU COMMISSARS" LEADER NOT FOUND – AZERI HISTORIAN

ANS TV
Feb 4 2009
Azerbaijan

A forensic examination of the remains of the legendary "26 Baku
commissars", who briefly ruled Azerbaijan’s capital in 1918 before
being allegedly killed by the British, has revealed that their
leader, Stepan Shaumyan, was not among those buried in Baku, a senior
Azerbaijani historian has said.

"According to preliminary results of a medical forensic examination
and an anatomic and pathological test… Stepan Shaumyan’s remains
are missing," Yaqub Mahmudov, head of the History Institute of the
Azerbaijani Academy of Sciences, told local television channel ANS.

The authorities demolished a monument erected to the Bolshevik leaders
in central Baku earlier this year and revealed the remains of only 23
people buried there in 1920. The exhumation of the bodies caused anger
in Armenia (several of the commissars, including Shaumyan, were ethnic
Armenians). The Russian ambassador to Azerbaijan, Vasiliy Istratov,
also voiced concern. (Today.az, 27 Jan 08).