Guba, April-May 1918. Documented Pogroms of the Muslims

the whole investigation was nothing but a formal lip service centered

around one major document, i.e. the Excerpt from the Approved Sei-

zure List of the NKVD of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan

(List No.1, Category 1, Reference No.42). The reference number im-

plied Aliabbasbey Alibeyov, whereas Category 1 indicated the prede-

termined list of persons subject to a certain penalty. (210)

The same excerpt from the

Approved Seizure List of the NKVD

of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan on Guba District

may

be found in the files of the case of another Guba resident, Mehsadi

Hajjiagha Kerbalai Ahmad oghlu Gasymov, aged 52, “a disfranchised

former rich merchant”. The criminal case was instituted on February

10, 1938, on the day of Gasymov’s arrest. The personal data on the

arrested person was followed by Gasymov’s “profile” that was sup-

posed to provide grounds for further charges. The Profile reads: “an

anti-Soviet element known for his detest to the existing Soviet regime

and for dissemination of rumors regarding the imminent demise of

the Soviet rule in the nearest future”. (211)

Throughout the whole investigation that only took 20 days, Me-

shadi Hajjiagha Gasymov never pled guilty to the charges brought

against him, i.e. “engagement in counter-revolutionary anti-Soviet

agitation” even despite two confrontations whereby he was ‘remin-

ded’ of commenting in public a newspaper article read out loud at

one of local tea-houses in the following way: “Finally, the Soviet re-

gime will soon collapse. Nothing will help it anymore”. (212)

Whether M.G.Gasymov really said anything that could be viewed

as “dissatisfaction with the actions by the Soviet power” or “defama-

tion of the party and government leaders”, is unclear to this day. In

real life, this did not matter that much for the investigation. The really

ominous issue for them was “a high and indisputable esteem” Gasy-

mov enjoyed among the population of Guba and the rest of the Uyezd.

These allegations constitute the leitmotif of all the ‘witness testimo-

nies’, and that was exactly the reason of mentioning M.Gasymov’s

name in Category 1 of the NKVD’s “Approved Seizure Lists”.

No surprise, “execution with expropriation” was the verdict on

Meshadi Hajjiagha Gasymov’s case too. The sentence passed by the

Special Troyka

of the Azerbaijani NKVD on March 9, 1938 was en-

forced during the night, March 22-23 1938. (213)

To conclude, all Guba residents mentioned above and purged