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Agence France Presse
August 31, 2012 Friday 4:09 PM GMT
Azerbaijan sparks fury by pardoning killer of Armenian
BAKU, Aug 31 2012
Azerbaijan enraged Armenia on Friday by pardoning a soldier who was
jailed for life for hacking an Armenian officer to death with an axe
during a NATO training course in Hungary in 2004.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued an order that killer Ramil
Safarov, 35, "should be freed from the term of his punishment"
immediately after he was extradited from Hungary where he had been
serving his sentence.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian told an emergency meeting of his
national security council that Hungary had made a "grave mistake" in
extraditing the prisoner and that his country should make an
"appropriate response".
"This is not a simple murder. It is murder on ethnic grounds," he said
in comments released by his press service.
Safarov killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian at a military academy
in Budapest where the servicemen from the ex-Soviet neighbour states
were attending English-language courses organised by NATO.
His lawyers claimed in court that he was traumatised because some of
his relatives were killed during the war between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh in the 1990s, and
alleged that Margarian had insulted his country.
"I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to the president and
commander-in-chief Ilham Aliyev for this humane move," Safarov was
reported as saying by Azerbaijani media after being greeted as a hero
when he arrived in Baku on a special flight.
Safarov then visited a memorial to those killed in the war accompanied
by a crowd of supporters who chanted slogans such as "We'll liberate
Karabakh".
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in
the war that left some 30,000 people dead, and despite years of
negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have not signed a
final peace deal.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the region by force if peace
talks do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed massive
retaliation against any military action.
eg-mkh-emc/am/har
August 31, 2012 Friday 4:09 PM GMT
Azerbaijan sparks fury by pardoning killer of Armenian
BAKU, Aug 31 2012
Azerbaijan enraged Armenia on Friday by pardoning a soldier who was
jailed for life for hacking an Armenian officer to death with an axe
during a NATO training course in Hungary in 2004.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued an order that killer Ramil
Safarov, 35, "should be freed from the term of his punishment"
immediately after he was extradited from Hungary where he had been
serving his sentence.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian told an emergency meeting of his
national security council that Hungary had made a "grave mistake" in
extraditing the prisoner and that his country should make an
"appropriate response".
"This is not a simple murder. It is murder on ethnic grounds," he said
in comments released by his press service.
Safarov killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian at a military academy
in Budapest where the servicemen from the ex-Soviet neighbour states
were attending English-language courses organised by NATO.
His lawyers claimed in court that he was traumatised because some of
his relatives were killed during the war between Azerbaijan and
Armenia over the disputed region of Nagorny Karabakh in the 1990s, and
alleged that Margarian had insulted his country.
"I want to express my appreciation and gratitude to the president and
commander-in-chief Ilham Aliyev for this humane move," Safarov was
reported as saying by Azerbaijani media after being greeted as a hero
when he arrived in Baku on a special flight.
Safarov then visited a memorial to those killed in the war accompanied
by a crowd of supporters who chanted slogans such as "We'll liberate
Karabakh".
Armenia-backed separatists seized Nagorny Karabakh from Azerbaijan in
the war that left some 30,000 people dead, and despite years of
negotiations since a 1994 ceasefire, the two sides have not signed a
final peace deal.
Azerbaijan has threatened to take back the region by force if peace
talks do not yield results, while Armenia has vowed massive
retaliation against any military action.
eg-mkh-emc/am/har