Russian Community Of Azerbaijan Issues Statement Regarding Incident In Zabrat Village

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 19. The Russian Community of Azerbaijan has received several appeals about the situation at the Zabrat cemetery located between the settlements of Zabrat-1 and Balakhani, the statement of the community said, trend reports.

"Witnesses presented photographs of acts of vandalism, graves with destroyed and damaged tombstones. Moreover, in some cases, trees and bushes were dug up, apparently planted by relatives, and fences were broken.

It is simply outrageous and not surprising that in a tolerant multicultural Azerbaijani society, this caused a flurry of indignation among the public and in the media. The Russian Community of Azerbaijan strongly condemns the act of vandalism committed and expresses its deep gratitude to First Vice-President of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva for the attention she paid to the incident.

On behalf of First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva, with the participation of Assistant to the President of Azerbaijan - Head of the Department for Territorial and Organizational Issues of the Administration of the President of Azerbaijan Zeynal Nagdaliyev, an inspection of the Russian cemetery in the village of Balakhani of Sabunchi district has already been carried out. It was noted that all the tombstones will be renovated again.

Today, First Deputy Prosecutor General, State Counselor for Justice of the Third Degree Elchin Mammadov contacted Chairman of the Russian Community, Member of Azerbaijani Parliament Mikhail Zabelin and informed him about the creation of an investigative group to look into all events related to acts of vandalism at the cemetery. The Prosecutor General and the Minister of Internal Affairs of Azerbajian are conducting an investigation. The Russian Community of Azerbaijan will continue to personally monitor the progress of the investigation and inform the public," the statement reads.

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