THE SHOT YOUTH

During the war years, many people in Azerbaijan dreamed of an independent Azerbaijan. 82 years have passed since young boys who only discussed what their homeland would be like without Soviet power were illegally convicted.

It was 1942...

The Bolsheviks, who had seized power, declared their motto for leading the country: "We will answer the white terror of the bourgeoisie and landlords with mass, merciless red terror". The term "white terror" referred to any dissent, let alone armed resistance or disagreement with the new authorities. And anyone could be a bourgeois or a landlord, including intellectuals, workers, collective farmers, students... Anyone who questioned the Bolshevik cause. History shows that the Bolsheviks stayed loyal to their principle for all seventy years that they ruled. It's just that the red terror changed its form in different periods...

The situation at the front was very tough, with bloody battles. It was no secret that some hoped for the independence of their republics if Germany won. In these circumstances, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) had to root out defeatist attitudes in society, and to identify and eliminate anti-Soviet groups and organisations.

Anti-Soviet

On May 2, 1942, the NKVD of the Azerbaijan SSR got such a chance through its employee, Junior Lieutenant Arushanov. On that day, student N of the Philological Faculty of the Azerbaijan State University came to the Commissariat with a request to see him for an urgent message. He said that Rzayev Mammad Hasan, who studied with him in the same group and shared a room with him in the dormitory, had warned him about the bombing of Baku the next day. According to Rzayev, one of the shells would hit the army headquarters. "He knew that my sister lived in the building where the army headquarters was and suggested that she leave the house."

N told Arushanov about Rzayev's political views: "Mammad Hasan told me about a youth organisation in Baku. Its goal was to break away from the USSR and create an independent republic aligned with Türkiye. Rzayev asked me to join the organisation, but I declined". Arushanov reported the incident to his boss Grigoryan and suggested N to infiltrate the organisation to find out its members and report everything about the group's activities.

Life for the liberation of the Motherland

A few days later, Arushanov had a list of the organisation's members on his desk: Iskenderov Suleyman , Rzayev Mammad Hasan, Taghiyev Ali Asker, Aghayev Huseyn Agha, Mustafayev Chingiz, Mammadov Ali Asker, Rzayev Saleh, Mehdiyev Zaman. In addition, N gave Arushanov the text of the oath of a member of the organisation that he got from M. Rzayev. The oath, written by S. Iskenderov, expressed the readiness to give his life for the liberation of the Motherland, "to fight to the last drop of blood against enemies trying to violate the inviolability of national honour and dignity". This document, as well as a poem written by M. Rzayev, which was found during his search, were later used as material evidence of the anti-state activities of the accused.

Some members of the organisation had been friends since high school. M. Rzayev and A. Taghiyev studied at school No.150, while S. Iskenderov, Ch. Mustafayev, G. Aghayev and A. Taghiyev graduated from school No.1 in 1940.

Arushanov also managed to recruit another student of the philological faculty to co-operate with him through threats and blackmail. However, the latter did not meet his expectations. On the contrary, he tried to protect his friend G. Aghaev from possible trouble and warned him to stay away from Rzayev, who was under the NKVD's scrutiny. This act cost him dearly: he was sentenced by the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Azerbaijan SSR to eight years in prison "for concealing the involvement of an active member of a counter-revolutionary nationalist organisation, now arrested Aghaev", as well as for participating in the activities of a counter-revolutionary organisation.

Naive youth

When they learned that the NKVD was after them, the members of the organisation stopped their activities, ceased meeting and burned the text of the oath. In fact, they did not do anything practically reasonable. They did not even have an action plan. Young guys just gathered in the house of one of the organisation's members and talked about the future of Azerbaijan. They thought that the country was not really an independent republic and criticised the Communist Party's policy on the national issue. They believed that Azerbaijan should leave the USSR and achieve true independence. It should be noted that everything was limited to talk, no action was taken.

But that was enough to arrest the young guys, who were 19-21 years old at the time. On July 7, 1942, Chingiz Mustafayev and Huseyn Agha Aghayev were arrested. The next day, Mammad Hasan Rzayev was arrested. By mid-September, all eight members of the organisation were arrested. In addition, several other young men were arrested and their cases were separated. The members of the organisation were tried under the wartime laws. The case was heard by the Military Tribunal of the NKVD troops of the Azerbaijan SSR. The trial was closed, lasted for one day, and had no prosecution, witnesses or defence for the accused. All eight men admitted to the charge of being members of a counter-revolutionary nationalist organisation with the aim of fighting against the Soviet power.

Sentencing

On October 31, 1942, the tribunal announced the verdict: Iskenderov Suleyman, Taghiyev Ali Asker and Rzayev Mammad Hasan were to be executed. Mustafayev Chingiz, Aghayev Huseyn Agha, Mammadov Ali Asker, Rzayev Saleh and Mehdiyev Zaman were to be imprisoned for 10 years each with confiscation of their personal property. The death sentence was carried out on December 24, 1942.   

As for the imprisoned members of the organisation, they were not allowed to return to homeland for a long time after serving their sentences. For example, Saleh Rzayev served his sentence in the Komi ASSR. After completing his sentence, he lived as a special settler in the Inta settlement and worked as a stoker. His mother's appeal to the Chairman of the USSR Council of Ministers Malenkov in 1954 with a request to let her son return to Azerbaijan was denied. The camp court added another 25 years of imprisonment to Mammadov Ali Asker's sentence.

In 1957, the USSR Chief Military Prosecutor's Office asked the State Security Committee under the Council of Ministers of the Azerbaijan SSR to conduct an additional check of the archival and investigative file of the youth organisation. After that, the convicts were interrogated. It was revealed that the investigation was conducted with gross violations of the law. There was pressure, including physical violence, testimony was fabricated, young people were not given the chance to review the interrogation records. They hoped that they could be cleared. However, the senior investigator of the Investigation Department of the KGB concluded that everyone was convicted lawfully.

Rehabilitation followed only in 1960. By the ruling of the Military Tribunal of the Transcaucasian Military District dated January 5, the sentence of October 31, 1942 was cancelled and the case was terminated for lack of corpus delicti. As for Arushanov, at that time he was already working in the KGB of Moldavia. His methods of investigation in 1942 were recognised by the tribunal as "vicious and provocative".