AZERBAIJAN: BAKU SHOULD SUE GORBACHEV

EurasiaNet
Jan 20 2010

Azerbaijan should prosecute former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev
in an international court for the January 20, 1990, Soviet Army
crackdown in Baku, Azerbaijani Deputy Prime Minister Ali Hasanov
has declared. The Soviet armed action resulted in the deaths of 132
pro-independence

Hasanov’s comments were published on the eve of the 20th anniversary
of the incident, known as "Black January" in Azerbaijan. "The one
who carried out this massacre and provoked the Armenian-Azerbaijani
conflict was the then-head of the [Soviet] Union, Mikhail Gorbachev,"
Hasanov was quoted by the APA news agency as saying. "[I] insist that
we file an international suit against Gorbachev."

Addressing a conference commemorating the January 20 anniversary,
Hasanov declared that even if Gorbachev dies, Azerbaijan should press
a lawsuit to establish responsibility for the tragedy. Seen as a
progressive reformer in the West, Gorbachev enjoys little popularity
in the former Soviet republics, where he is closely associated with
the Soviet Union’s prolonged and chaotic disintegration.