“It is hard to comment on stupidity” – Rovshan Askerov responds to Russia's accusations

Rovshan Askerov responded to Russia’s accusations

The Investigative Committee of Russia launched a criminal case against an Azerbaijani journalist, a well-known participant in the TV quiz “What? Where? When?” Rovshan Askerov. He is accused of “rehabilitating Nazism”. Askerov faces a sentence of up to five years in prison. The connoisseur himself noted that “it is difficult to comment on stupidity”.

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Rovshan Askerov is currently the PR director of the Baku magazine, whose editor-in-chief is Leyla Aliyeva, the daughter of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

“I am not in Russia and will not go there”

In an interview with the Telegram channel Radiotochka NSN, Rovshan Askerov called the criminal case on the rehabilitation of Nazism, in which he became a defendant, “fictitious”.

“The Investigative Committee does not want to comment on this? There is no body of the crime, in my opinion. I don’t see any story there at all. It’s incomprehensible – ask them what they think. I’m not in Russia, you see, I’m lucky, unlike you, I’m not in Russia and I won’t go there.

This is a fictional case. What is happening in Russia is of little interest to me, this is the problem of Russia. I don’t comment on these things. It is better to ask them why they are doing this”, Askerov said.

What did Askerov do?

On the night of April 6, Rovshan Askerov posted the following on his Facebook page:

“In Russia, in the center of Moscow, in front of the Pseudo-History Museum, there is a statue of an experienced robber. Zhukov, a killer in epaulets, was also a thief. He brought from Germany “a large number” of furniture, works of art and various loot “for personal use”. This is written in the investigation materials on his case. He is a five-time hero of the Soviet Union”.

This post has already been deleted and it is impossible to find it on the journalist’s page.

What is Askerov accused of?

“The Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation is investigating a criminal case against Rovshan Askerov on the rehabilitation of Nazism, initiated under Part 4 of Article 354.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation”, the press service of the Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement.

“Earlier, the head of the Investigative Committee of Russia, in connection with the appeal of the State Historical Museum, gave a corresponding instruction on the legal assessment of R. Askerov’s statements.

The investigation established that no later than April 6, 2022, Askerov published on his Facebook page (banned on the territory of the Russian Federation) deliberately false information insulting and discrediting the memory of the great Russian commander and defender of the Fatherland, Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

The Investigative Committee will always respond fundamentally and harshly to any attempts to desecrate or humiliate the blessed memory of the defenders of the Fatherland, regardless of the social status of the persons involved in such crimes. Such acts will be subject to criminal liability established by law”, the report says.

Askerov on Kalashnikov monument

This is not the first time that Rovshan Askerov has been persecuted for his thoughts on the history of the USSR and Russia. In 2020, he spoke about the monument to the creator of the AK-47 assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, in Moscow.

“In the center of Moscow stands a terrible, ugly, vulgar, tasteless and immoral statue of a murderer Kalashnikov with a murder weapon”.

There is no monument to immunologist, virologist Lev Zilber or Zinaida Yermolyeva anywhere near Moscow.

Why aren’t you being treated for viruses with AK-47? Why are you even looking for a vaccine? After all, are machine guns not more important?

By the way, Zilber’s brother Veniamin Kaver dedicated his novel “Open Book” to Zilber’s ex-wife, the creator of the “Soviet penicillin” Zinaida Vissarionovna. Iya Savvina played her role in one of the screenings.

It is difficult to love humanity, who erect statues to murderers and do not see their saviors.

A real one, not one invented by trained Kinneret ‘fishermen’.

By the way, in 1930, immunologist and virologist Lev Zilbert extinguished plague in the Azerbaijani city of Hadrut”.

At that time, many media in Russia took up arms against the journalist, but the matter did not come to criminal prosecution.