Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims
148
File No.64
Record of Examination
On this 18th day of December, 1918, in Guba
Novatski, the member of the Ad Hoc Investigation Commission
established by the Government of Azerbaijan, examined the following
person as a witness, pursuant to the Criminal Court Regulations:
Witness: Hajji Ahmad Alimurad oghlu, aged 50, a Guba resi-
dent, illiterate.
Someone Ghelovani arrived in Guba with a detachment of troops
numbering about 150 men who subdued us to the Bolshevik admi-
nistration. The situation in town was quiet, no robberies, no murders.
Five days later, the Lezghins surrounded the town and got engaged in
fire exchange with the unit to force it out of town. Another squad of
about 40 soldiers arrived from Khachmaz to support the Bolsheviks.
Both units were firing back. Ultimately they decided to leave the town.
They gathered all Russians and Armenians remaining in town and left
towards Kahchmaz.
Some ten days after this, a much more numerous squad manned
exclusively by the Armenians entered the town shooting left and right,
killing the townsfolk, robbing and raping them. They were bursting
into homes, extorting money and old threatening people by death
and grabbed anything valuable they got a hold of.
Together with Mammadali Demirchi, Rza Heybat oghlu, one Per-
sian39 and a worker Mammadali and their wives, I found refuge at
the home of Hasir Hajji Majid oghlu. The next day, four Armenians
arrived and started forcing inside. When Nasir let them in, they im-
mediately demanded money. Nasir gave them 150 rubles, I gave 125,
whereas Mammadali said he had no money. Immediately, one of the
Armenians stabbed him with dagger to the stomach, so he fell down
dead. The Persian got his throat cut, Rza Heybat oghlu had his armed
chopped off, and worker Mammadali ended up with slashed head.
Mammadali and the Persian passed away on the spot, whereas the
two other ones died from wounds several days later.
Then the Armenians started extorting gold from me. When I
said I had no gold, one of the Armenians raised his hand with dag-
ger against me, however the dagger hit the door, so I rushed to the