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Armenia Breaks Ties With Hungary Over Clemency For Murderer

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  • Armenia Breaks Ties With Hungary Over Clemency For Murderer

    ARMENIA BREAKS TIES WITH HUNGARY OVER CLEMENCY FOR MURDERER

    Russia Today
    http://rt.com/news/armenia-azerbaijan-hungary-murder-087/
    Aug 31 2012

    Armenia has cut diplomatic ties with Hungary, after Budapest allowed
    an Azerbaijani who had been convicted of killing a visiting Armenian
    citizen to return to his home country, where he was pardoned.

    ­"I officially declare that starting today we cease diplomatic
    relations and all official ties with Hungary," said Armenian President
    Serzh Sargsyan at a meeting with UN ambassadors.

    The announcement comes as Budapest permitted Azerbaijani Ramil Safarov
    return to Azerbaijan after he was been convicted of murdering and
    Armenian in Budapest.

    In 2004, Safarov went to Budapest to study English within NATO's
    Partnership for Peace program, and while there murdered Armenian
    Gurgen Margaryan, who was attending the same course.

    Safarov killed Margaryan with an ax as he slept.

    In his initial testimony, Safarov explained that in 1993, when Armenia
    occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, the majority ethnic Armenian region of
    Azerbaijan where he was born, members of his family were killed in
    the resulting military conflict. The implication was that Safarov
    killed Margaryan to avenge his relatives.

    Later, however, the murderer changed his words, claiming
    miscommunication between him and his interpreters. In a later,
    revised version of his testimony, Safarov insisted that Margaryan
    had insulted Azerbaijan's national flag.

    The trial was held in Budapest in 2006, and an Hungarian court
    sentenced Safarov to life in prison without the right to appeal for
    pardon for 30 years.

    Accompanied by a police official (L) and an interpretor (R),
    Azerbaijani army officier Lieutenant Ramil Safarov (C) listens to
    the verdict.(AFP Photo / Attila Kisbenedek)

    On Friday, however, in accordance with the Strasbourg Convention
    on the transfer of sentenced persons, Safarov was extradited to his
    home country.

    On the same day, he was pardoned by Azerbaijani president Ilham
    Aliyev. This was despite Baku's assurances that the convict would
    not be released earlier than 2037.

    Azerbaijani television showed Safarov smiling as he walked through a
    crowd of his supporters, his shoulders covered with the Azerbaijani
    flag, and a bouquet of roses in his hands.

    President Sargsyan explicitly accused Hungarian authorities of
    collusion with Azerbaijani authorities.

    "The Hungarian authorities have to understand that they made a big
    mistake. They, actually, made a deal with Azerbaijani authorities,"
    he said.

    A demonstration took place in front of the Hungarian Consulate in
    Yerevan following the news. Demonstrators held banners reading "Shame
    on Hungary" and "We demand justice."

    The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has seriously complicated relations
    between the neighboring Caucasus states. First as Soviet republics and
    then as independent nations, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over the
    area from 1988 till 1994. Despite ongoing discussions between the two
    countries, with Russia acting as an active mediator, they still have
    not reached a formal solution to the dispute. Currently the territory
    is ruled by the local government, which receives backing from Yerevan.

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