Russia, Moscow, 15 January / Trend corr. R.Agayev / The Azerbaijani Embassy in the Russian Federation will hold a Day of Mourning for the Victims of 20 January, the Embassy press-service reported to Trend.
The event is scheduled for 18 January 2008. The embassy reported that a special stand with the names of the victims of Black January will be placed on Leontyev street in front of the Embassy at 2:30pm. A round table will be held in the Embassy at 3:00pm. Russian state representatives, Azerbaijanis who reside in Moscow, as well as members of the Embassy have been invited to take part in the event.
More than 131 people died from wounds they received that night and during subsequent violent confrontations and incidents that lasted in through February; the majority of these were civilians killed by Soviet soldiers. More than 744 civilians were wounded. Hundreds of people were detained, only a handful of whom were put on trial for alleged criminal offenses. Civil liberties were severely abused. The behavior of Soviet armed forces in Baku must be judged in the context of their actual mission. Mikhail Gorbachev's use of force in Baku was nothing but a desperate attempt to stop the dissolution of the Communist ruling in Azerbaijan. The Soviet army was trying to rescue the totalitarian regime, the rule of Communist Party and Soviet empire.