“Customary Genocide: February, 1988, Sumgait:” New Documentary to Unfold the Truth

A presentation of a new documentary – Sumgait, February, 1988 – took place yesterday on April 27. The film is the second documentary in the “Customary Genocide” series project carried out in assistance of the Public Relations and Information Centre of the Presidential Staff of the Republic of Armenia.

The first film – Baku, January, 1990 – was first shown in January 2010. It was translated into several languages and is being disseminated in DVDs and also available on the Internet.

Authors of the film say that it is a condemnation of a crime against humanity that was perpetrated in the Soviet Azerbaijan from February 27-29, 1988.

Exclusive video shootings and photographs, witness accounts, documents by investigation and court proceedings found in the film are presented to the public for the first time. Not only they disclose the truth about what happened in Sumgait, but they also prove the fact that the crime was organized by the Azerbaijani authorities and special services with the leaders of the Soviet Union having their own part of guilt.

For 22 years after this tragedy Azerbaijan has been purposefully distorting the truth, the essence of Sumgait.

By providing such facts and documents Customary Genocide is aimed at dispelling all the suspicions that a well-planned crime was perpetrated against Armenians in the Soviet Azerbaijan.