VERDICT №1

On the morning of 23 March 1920, shocking news swept through the city of Baku - a headless corpse was found in a wasteland in the suburbs. It soon became clear that the man with his throat cut was Ali Bayramov, one of the prominent representatives of the Azerbaijani Bolsheviks who had been hiding from the authorities for a long time. The investigating authorities began to investigate the crime, but did not have time to complete it.

"Evidence"

On the night of 27-28 April 1920, the government of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic was overthrown and Bolsheviks came to power. On 29 April Justice Minister Ali Heydar Qarayev instructed the chairman of the Supreme Revolutionary Tribunal (SRT) to investigate, among others, the murder of Ali Bayramov. The SRT received case materials collected by the previous investigation team. But, as subsequent events showed, the new government had its own opinion about the perpetrators of the murder of revolutionary Ali Bayramov. The SRT's disinterest in a detailed investigation is proved by the fact that it took a SRT detective only 20 days to "investigate" the murder. The final decision he signed on 19 May mentioned 19 people "involved" in the crime, and all charges fitted into five typewritten pages. The detective found Safi bay Rustambayov, former comrade (deputy) of the interior minister who was acting minister when the crime was committed; Murad Girey Tlekhas, the former military governor-general of the Baku fortified area; Alakbar xan Sahsuvarov, the former chief of the information department of the Baku city government; Rustam bay Mirzayev, the former police chief of Baku; Nuraddin Seyidov, the former police inspector of the 4th section of Baku, and a number of others guilty of murdering Bayramov.

However, it was impossible to charge them all with the murder of Bayramov. By the time the Bolsheviks seized power, Safi bay Rustambayov, Ajdar Eminov, Huseyn Nadir oglu, Aleksandr Koberidze and Vali Mashadi Huseyn oglu had left the country while Alakbar xan Sahsuvarov had died. Thus, 14 people appeared before the SRT. The defendants were tried by the SRT board led by Teymur Aliyev (chairman) and members Lev Gants, Yefim Rodionov, Zeynal Dadas and Mir Basir Qasimov. The trial began on 21 May 1920 and ended on 28 May, and had an exemplary nature - Communist newspaper placed an announcement, and entry into the courtroom was by passes only. Within one week, the tribunal "proved" the guilt of 18 defendants and the innocence of one. However, none of them pleaded guilty to the crime.

On the example of General Tlekhas, we can learn how justice was administered. As a suspect, he was involved in the investigation on 19 May i.e. two days before the end of the investigation. "General Tlekhas is not a witness, he is the killer of my husband Ali Bayramov," Ceyran Bayramova wrote to the SRT. And on 21 May, when the investigator prepared the final decision and sent it to the court, the general turned from a witness into a defendant. The investigation charged him with "inaction resulting in a murder". General Tlekhas testified at the trial that he was aware of the order to arrest Ali Bayramov among other Bolsheviks. "None of the officials or victims asked me for help," he told the court, making it clear that in such a situation he could not prevent the crime.

According to the verdict of the tribunal, 10 people - Tlekhas, Mirzayev, Subhanverdixanov, Babayev, Cabrayilov, Ter-Arutyunov, Rzayev, Habib Nazar oglu, Abdurahman Qurban oglu, Movsumov, as well as five of the accused who did not appear before the court - Rustambayov, Eminov, Huseyn Nadir oglu, Koberidze and Vali Mashadi Huseyn were sentenced to the capital punishment - death. Ibrahim Xalil Zulfuqarov was sentenced to 10, Aslan bay Mirzayev - to five and Nuraddin Seyidov - to three years in prison. Nikolay Kaloydovich, head of the police reserve, was acquitted.

The controversy has been simmering

This was the first verdict of the new government with respect to its class enemy. It was executed the next day, at 0230 on 29 May, in the presence of SRT members Zeynal Dadas and Lev Gants, and the commandant of Baku, Mazurov. There is an assumption that the accused were executed on the island of Nargin. Their death was certified by a doctor who indicated in his report that "the corpses were buried in a mass grave near the site of the execution at a depth of 7 feet".

More than 85 years have passed since that time, but the controversy surrounding the masterminds and perpetrators of the murder of Bayramov and the motive of their actions is not subsiding and regularly appears in the spotlight of the national media. Communists have always - both in the last century and now - believe that the murder of Ali Bayramov was the work of the then government which tried to intimidate the Baku proletariat, bring down the wave of protests and thus hold on to power. The reason for the murder, they said, was the discovery of two telephones during a search in the apartment where Bayramov lived with his wife Ceyran Bayra-mova, adopted son and his wife's grandmother. This fact is confirmed by Bayramova's testimony to its investigation. It is believed that Bayramova, who served in the information department at the time, used these telephones to pass secret information on to Bolsheviks. Because of this, the latter say, Bayramov was killed. However, the archival materials on the murder of Ali Bayramov we studied contain nothing certain on this score.

The government states that it had nothing to do with the murder of the Bolshevik. Its position was expressed in Istiqlal (Independence) newspaper, one of the editions of which said that the Azerbaijan Republic was a democratic country and every citizen expressed his indignation at such a crime. The author of the article noted that the job of the investigation was to solve the murder and find out the motives of its perpetrators. According to him, for the government, to kill Bayramov meant "buttering the bread for the Bolsheviks".

There is also a theory that Bayramov's murder was motivated by personal hatred, for he shed a lot of blood by taking up arms to establish Soviet rule in districts and in Baku. Baku qocus were particularly unhappy with his actions. The case materials indicate that "on 20 March, he (Bayramov) was walking along Melnichnaya Street (now Aga Dadas Qurbanov Street). Between the 2nd and 3rd Parallel Streets (now Bala Baba Majidov Street and Mahmud Abilov Street) qocu Ajdar Eminov and Huseyn Nadir oglu waylaid him and took him to the police chief, with whom they had planned a "premeditated murder".

Another version of the crime is that Bayramov was killed on the orders of his party comrades. At first glance, it may seem implausible. But if you remember 1937...

Today it is difficult and virtually impossible to uncover the true motives behind the murder of Bayramov and find the actual perpetrators and masterminds of the crime. Nevertheless, the headstone on Bayramov's grave says: "Brutally murdered by Musavat butchers."