Izvestiya and NG about the murder of Azeri in Moscow

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Subject: Izvestiya and NG about the murder of Azeri in Moscow

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Izvestiya and NG about the murder of Azeri in Moscow


Current Digest of the Post-Soviet Press
June 10, 1998
THE NEWS OF THE WEEK; The Russian Federation; Vol. 50, No. 19; Pg.18
Crime
 
MURDERERS OF AZERBAIJANI IN LUZHNIKI WERE SKIN-HEADS
 
By Konstantin Blagodarov, Sergei Mitin and Yury Snegiryov, Izvestia
staff. Izvestia, May 14, 1998, p. 1. Excerpt:
 
Kyamal Kurbanov, consul for the Republic of Azerbaijan in Russia, told
Izvestia that the murder of his compatriot on May 7 of this year was
unprecedented. Although Azerbaijanis have been killed before, as a
rule it has been as a result of criminal conflicts. In the consul's
opinion, the incident in Luzhniki is the first time the Azerbaijani
expatriate community has encountered terror by "skin-heads" - violent
and uncontrollable champions of the "Russian national idea." Witnesses
observed that the [Azerbaijani] vendor was suddenly encircled by a
tight ring of people in the characteristic clothing of nationalists
(black jeans, T-shirts and high army boots).
 
"We are certain the police could have prevented the crime, but they
didn't do so," says the consul. "Ever since the Ministry of Internal
Affairs classified us as 'persons of Caucasian nationality,' we have
been unable to rely on the police for assistance.  Evidence of this is
provided by the actions of the OMON special police in dispersing the
procession of Azerbaijanis carrying the dead man. It was purely by
chance that there were no further casualties."

More likely than not, the skinheads were set on the market vendor by
someone else. But it's an outrageous state of affairs when
ultraradical nationalists, whose activities in the capital have been
repeatedly forbidden by the authorities, can attack people without
hindrance. . . .

THE NEWS OF THE WEEK; The Russian Federation; Vol. 50, No. 19; Pg.17
 
AZERBAIJAN DOESN'T INTEND TO MAKE A BIG DEAL OF MURDER IN LUZHNIKI
 
By Aleksandr Shvaryov
Nezavisimaya gazeta, May 12, 1998, p. 2. Condensed text:
 
On Friday night [May 8] relatives of Asef Nagiyev, who was killed in
Luzhniki, transported his body from Moscow to Azerbaijan. He was
buried on Saturday in his native city of Gyandzha. It will be recalled
that Nagiyev was knifed to death on May 7 at the Luzhniki market
during a fight that broke out between merchants from the Caucasus and
several young Russians. This incident sparked a wave of anger among
Azerbaijanis who work at Luzhniki. First they held a rally at the
scene of the violence, and then a crowd numbering about 1,500 set out
with Nagiyev's body along Komsomolsky Prospect in the direction of the
Azerbaijani Embassy. The OMON special police didn't manage to halt the
procession until it reached the Frunzenskaya subway station. The next
day, the prosecutor's office in Moscow's Khamovniki District
instituted criminal proceedings under Arts.105 (murder) and 213
(hooliganism) [of the Russian Criminal Code] in connection with the
incident. The Moscow police have arrested six suspects in the crime. .
. .

Boris Yeltsin was informed of the incident in Luzhniki. Moscow Mayor
Yury Luzhkov, who approved the procession's dispersal by OMON special
police, called the incident at the market "very unpleasant" but didn't
believe it was connected to "problems between nationalities in the
city, where there have never been conflicts on interregional or
interreligious grounds."  He said that both the city government and
Muscovites in general "have no negative feelings toward expatriate
groups or people of different nationalities, of which the city has
more than 140." Incidentally, according to data obtained from the
Azerbaijani Embassy, about a million Azerbaijanis live in Moscow and
the surrounding region. Most of them are
refugees. . .  .
 
Embassy consul Kyamal Kurbanov noted that the Azerbaijani authorities
do not intend to blow this tragic event out of proportion. At the same
time, however, he expressed concern over the fact that after the
murder, the administration of the Luzhniki market revoked the selling
licenses of a group of Azerbaijani vendors. . . .
 
Copyright 1998 The Current Digest of the Soviet Press

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