Baku Metro Bombings (1994)

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Two terrorist attacks that occurred in March and July 1994 are described as bomb explosions in the subway in Baku ( Azerbaijan ). This claimed a total of 27 dead and 91 injured.

Attack on March 19th

procedure

On March 19, at 1 p.m. local time , a self-made time bomb detonated at the Baku subway station “ 20 Yanvar ” when the metro train pulled up to the station. The explosive device deposited under a seat of the front car killed a total of 14 people, including the immediate assassin Oktay Gurbanow. 49 people were injured. There was also considerable damage to property. The front part of the rail vehicle was completely destroyed and the roof of the station was partially collapsed. The underground service was temporarily suspended. Among the victims was the prominent Azerbaijani folk artist Rafiq Babayev , who worked nearby.

Investigations

The President of Azerbaijan Heydər Əliyev (1923–2003) issued a decree in the same year on the establishment of a state commission to investigate the attack. The main suspects were the members of the separatist Lesgian national movement "Sadwal" . According to official investigations, the organizers and executors had direct links with Armenian intelligence agencies and were allegedly trained to carry out the terrorist act in Armenia . A total of 11 people were found guilty of the terrorist incident. While two defendants were sentenced to death, others received prison sentences of varying lengths.

July assassination attempt

Chronicle of events

On July 3, 1994, a second detonation occurred in the Baku subway. At 8:30 am, a bomb went off in the second car of the train when the machine broke off from the subway station “28 May” in the direction of “ Gənclik ” and was only 500 meters from the destination stop. After the explosion, several wagons went up in flames. In addition to 13 dead, there were 58 injured.

Investigations

Azerbaijani citizen Azer Aslanov was identified as the perpetrator who placed the explosives in the car and arrested in Moscow . On May 29, 1997 he was extradited to Azerbaijan. While in custody in 1998, Aslanov stated that he had followed the instructions of the writer, publicist and one of the ideological pioneers of Armenian separatism in Nagorno-Karabakh, Zori Balayan , to have his mother, who was imprisoned in Armenia, free. According to state investigations, the latter is said to have been the real mastermind behind the July attack. Based on Aslanov's testimony, a criminal case against Balayan was initiated. In 1999, Interpol issued an international arrest warrant against the Armenian publicist on the basis of the evidence presented by the Azerbaijani General Prosecutor, listing the Armenian publicist as a felon. In 2001 the search was stopped at the request of the Armenian side due to the “politically motivated nature” of the case and Balayan was removed from the Interpol wanted list. In May 2005, Balayan was arrested by the police for five hours while on a boat trip in Brindisi ( southern Italy ), but was released again.

State investigations also revealed that Colonel Karen Bagdasarjan and Captain Seyran Sarkisjan , both employees of the Armenian intelligence agencies, were directly involved in the July 1994 attack and had trained Aslanov to carry out the terrorist act in Armenia. For the assassin himself, the court sentence was "life sentence".

Russian citizen Kamo Fyodorovich Saakov, an ethnic Armenian, his wife Irina Saakova and Anatoly Iltschuk were imprisoned in connection with the preparations for the July attack. Two months later, a Baku district court sentenced Saakov to life imprisonment. Ilchuk was sentenced to 15 years in prison for illegally acquiring, owning and storing weapons.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Евгения Петрова: Act of terrorism in Metro in other countries. February 7, 2004, accessed March 28, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Александр Максимов: Происшествия. Теракт в бакинском метро. В вагоне взорвалась бомба с часовым механизмом. March 22, 1994, Retrieved March 28, 2018 (Russian).
  3. ↑ Расим Бабаев: 16 лет назад в этот день в Бакинском метро произошел теракт. March 19, 2010, accessed March 28, 2018 (Russian).
  4. ↑ Aлександр Mаксимов: Происшествия. Теракт в бакинском метро. В вагоне взорвалась бомба с часовым механизмом. March 22, 1994, Retrieved March 28, 2018 (Russian).
  5. ↑ Rafig Babayev. Magazine "Jazz Dünyasi", No. 3, 2005, accessed on March 28, 2018 (English).
  6. ↑ Азербайджанская Республика. Правозащитный центр “Мемориал”, accessed on March 28, 2018 (Russian).
  7. ↑ 8 июля в газете "Коммерсантъ" был опубликован рейтинг крупнейших терактов в метро - в свямзи со вовосвязи совово связи сововосвязи веровнамид. Перепечатываем этот рейтинг с уточненными данными. In: Газета "Коммерсантъ" . March 8, 2005 (Russian, kommersant.ru [accessed March 28, 2018]).
  8. ↑ Максим Варывдин: Теракт в бакинском метро. Десятки пассажиров пострадали от взрыва бомбы. Газета Коммерсантъ No. 122 (590), July 5, 1994, accessed March 29, 2018 (Russian).
  9. ↑ Крупнейшие теракты в метро. Газета Коммерсантъ, March 22, 2016, accessed March 29, 2018 (Russian).
  10. ^ Azerbaijani Terrorism suspect extradited to Baku. RFE / RL Newsline Vol 1, No. 170, Part I, December 2, 1997, accessed March 29, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Интерпол решает вопрос о возобновлении розыска армянского публициста по запросу прокураернай Азжжураерныа . In: ИА REGNUM . (Russian, regnum.ru [accessed March 29, 2018]).
  12. ^ Interpol detained Armenian Publicist by Mistake . In: PanARMENIAN.Net . (English, panarmenian.net [accessed March 29, 2018]).
  13. ↑ Sputnik: Армянский терроризм и двойные мировые стандарты. July 3, 2008, Retrieved March 29, 2018 (Russian).
  14. ↑ Human Rights Center of Azerbaijan (ed.): Political Arrests and Trials in Azerbaijan . Baku 1995 (English).