Patiashvili reports on demonstrations in Tbilisi and army attempts to subdue them which resulted in the death of 16 people. Patiashvili requests to impose a curfew in the city to maintain order.
April 29, 1989
Note from A. S. Pavlov, Chief of the CC CPSU State and Legal Department, to the CC CPSU, 'On the Issue of the Events in the City of Tbilisi'
This document was made possible with support from Leon Levy Foundation
29 April 1989
Secret
CC CPSU
On the Issue of the Events in the City of Tbilisi
In connection with numerous appeals by citizens and statements in the mass media regarding the events in the city of Tbilisi which were provoked by groups of extremists and led on 9 April to the deaths of people, we consider it advisable to form a commission to study the reasons and circumstances of these events for a report to the CC CPSU.
It is advisable to bring comrades into this work who have had no prior association with an investigation of this extraordinary incident.
The commission could include Cdes. G.S. Tarazevich,[i]Chairman of the Belorussian Supreme Soviet Presidium (Chairman); G.V. Sergeyev,[ii] First Deputy USSR Minister of Health; V.L. Govorov,[iii] Chief of USSR Civil Defense and Deputy USSR Minister of Defense; V.P. Pirozhkov,[iv] Deputy Chairman of the USSR KGB; N.I. Demidov,[v] Deputy USSR Minister of Internal Affairs; and O.V. Kvilitaya,[vi] First Deputy Chairman of the Georgian SSR Council of Ministers.
The candidacy of O.V. Kvilitaya as a member of the commission was per the suggestion of Cde. G.G. Gumbaridze.[vii]
A draft CC CPSU Decree is attached.[viii]
Chief of the CC CPSU State and Legal Department
A. Pavlov
[i] G. S. Tarazevich, since 1985 Chairman of the Presidium of the Belorussian SSR Supreme Soviet, since 1986 simultaneously Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet.
[ii] G. V. Sergeyev, First Deputy USSR Minister of Health.
[iii] V. L. Govorov, Chief of USSR Civil Defense, Deputy USSR Minister of Defense, [General of the Army].
[iv] V. P. Pirozhkov, General-Colonel, Deputy Chairman of the USSR KGB.
[v] N. I. Demidov, General-Lieutenant of Internal Service, Deputy USSR Minister of Internal Affairs.
[vi] O. V. Kvilitaya, since March 1989 First Deputy Chairman of the Georgian SSR Council of Ministers.
[vii] G. G. Gumbaridze, First Secretary of the CC GCP from April 1989 to December 1990.
[viii] See document No. 7.
Following the events of April 9, Pavolv advises that a commission be formed to examine the situation in Georgia.
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TsKhSD. F. 5 Op. 34 D. 796 p. 121, Original, published in Istoricheskij Arkhiv 3 (1993), pp. 100. Translated for CWIHP by Gary Goldberg
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