Youth protest in Baku over 2009 university shooting
Scores of youth organizations’ activists attempted to hold a
protest in Baku Friday over the anniversary of the horrid terror
act committed at the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy last year in
which a dozen of people were killed. The protesters demanded
announcing April 30 the Day of Students, erecting a monument to the
victims and arresting those who ordered the killings.
On April 30, 2009, a gunman broke into the Oil Academy and opened fire on students and teachers, killing 12 people. When police tried to detain him, he killed himself.
Police identified the gunman as a 29-year-old Georgian citizen of Azerbaijani descent.
Criminal proceedings have been opened against several other suspects on a number of charges, including terrorism.
Tens of young protesters gathering outside the 28 May subway station in the city center attempted to walk toward the university campus, but the police blocked them and had them driven away in buses.
Further, around 50 youngsters who convened near the Samad Vurghun garden began singing the Azerbaijani anthem and chanting "April 30 – day of mourning" and "Down with terror". The police did not allow that protest to proceed, either.
However, the protest continued in various locations with interruptions for two more hours.
Panah Huseyn, an opposition MP, claimed disallowing the youths’ protest was unlawful. He opined that the authorities are further politicizing the matter by forbidding the protest.
Most of the protesters were representatives of opposition parties.
Organizers said up to 50 pickets were detained. The Interior Ministry spokesman, Ehsan Zahidov, said many of those detained were released after receiving a warning. Zahidov also said pleas had been filed with courts on imposing administrative action on ten of the protesters.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor-General’s Office ordered to investigate suspected complicity with the crime of Mardun Gumashyan, an ethnic Armenian Georgian citizen. Eldar Sultanov, its spokesman, said a search for Gumashyan has been declared through the Interpol.*
On April 30, 2009, a gunman broke into the Oil Academy and opened fire on students and teachers, killing 12 people. When police tried to detain him, he killed himself.
Police identified the gunman as a 29-year-old Georgian citizen of Azerbaijani descent.
Criminal proceedings have been opened against several other suspects on a number of charges, including terrorism.
Tens of young protesters gathering outside the 28 May subway station in the city center attempted to walk toward the university campus, but the police blocked them and had them driven away in buses.
Further, around 50 youngsters who convened near the Samad Vurghun garden began singing the Azerbaijani anthem and chanting "April 30 – day of mourning" and "Down with terror". The police did not allow that protest to proceed, either.
However, the protest continued in various locations with interruptions for two more hours.
Panah Huseyn, an opposition MP, claimed disallowing the youths’ protest was unlawful. He opined that the authorities are further politicizing the matter by forbidding the protest.
Most of the protesters were representatives of opposition parties.
Organizers said up to 50 pickets were detained. The Interior Ministry spokesman, Ehsan Zahidov, said many of those detained were released after receiving a warning. Zahidov also said pleas had been filed with courts on imposing administrative action on ten of the protesters.
Meanwhile, the Prosecutor-General’s Office ordered to investigate suspected complicity with the crime of Mardun Gumashyan, an ethnic Armenian Georgian citizen. Eldar Sultanov, its spokesman, said a search for Gumashyan has been declared through the Interpol.*
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