157
plots force others to work on their land, and this is a sin. Hajjibaba
Akhund shared this view. Both clerics were speaking openly of their
mind, with no coercion or duress whatsoever.
In the course of our retreat with Amazasp from Guba, our squad
committed no violence. Neither did we kill anyone or set any house
afire. There was one burning house somewhere in the lower area but
it caught fire from a cannon shell.
For two days I was resisting the Lezghins and tried my very best
to avoid surrender two reasons: first it was the officer’s code of con-
duct, and second, I got no offers to surrender, all I got was threats
with no guarantees of mercy neither to the unit not to myself, should
we give up.
There was not a single Russian in Amazasp’s squad, it was
manned exclusively by Armenians, members of Dashnaktsutyun Party
to the last person. Amazasp himself was a fervent Dashnak. I believe
the punitive unit was dispatched to Guba following Shaumyan’s order,
however recruitment of the troops depends on Korganov, the war
minister.
Davachi and Alpan villages located several verst away from Guba
were set on fire by Amazasp’s squad just because they were Muslim
populated. No other explanation I can find.
Signed by the witness
Signed by A.Novatski, the member of the Commission
Reference: SARA, f.1061, op.1, d.96, ll.118-119(verso)
File No.70
Record of Examination
On this 24th 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: Mullah Shykh Husseyn Akhundzadeh, the parish
mullah of the 1st mahalle (neighborhood), Guba, aged 72.
This year in March someone named Ghelovani was enforcing
the Soviet rule in the town of Guba. He had a squad of soldiers under
Documents on the Devastation of Guba
Witness Testimonies of Residents of the Town of Guba