The World - News from May 17, 1988
The highest court in Soviet Azerbaijan sentenced an Azerbaijani pipefitter to 15 years in jail for the murder of an Armenian in connection with race riots in the city of Sumgait last February that left at least 32 people dead and about 200 injured. The Tass news agency said the sentence imposed on Talik Salik Izmailov is the maximum allowed under Soviet law, although he could have been sentenced to death if the court had found aggravating circumstances. The Sumgait troubles came after thousands of Armenians demonstrated in the Armenian capital of Yerevan demanding the return to Armenia of the Nagorno-Karabkah region, which is 80% Armenian but is ruled by the Azerbaijani republic.
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