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EU: AZERBAIJAN BREAKS TERMS OF SAFAROV EXTRADITION DEAL
Interfax
Sept 6 2012
Russa
Azerbaijan has breached the terms of its deal with Hungary on the
repatriation of an Azeri murder convict by pardoning him, the office
of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has claimed.
Ashton's spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic, said in a Radio Liberty program
on Wednesday that the EU would ask the Azeri government to explain
why it pardoned Ramil Safarov, who received a life sentence in Hungary
in 2006 for savagely murdering Armenian army officer Gurgen Margarian
in Budapest two years before.
Kocijancic argued that the Safarov affair posed a threat to regional
stability.
She also said the Safarov case might be raised during a planned
meeting of EU foreign ministers in Cyprus late this week.
The spokeswoman said the EU would explore the matter further but she
ruled out the possibility of any sanctions against Azerbaijan.
Safarov's pardon has also been condemned by European Parliament
President Martin Schulz and Council of Europe Secretary General
Thorbjorn Jagland.
"I find it unacceptable that a convicted murderer is welcomed as a
hero," Jagland said in a statement on Tuesday.
"I reject the prospect of a world whose moral code begins to fray,
where respect for human dignity is denied. This is not the Europe that
we should wish for future generations. I condemn such glorification
of crime, and urge that we all work to uphold the respect for life,
and our values as defended by the Council of Europe," he said.
Relations between Armenia and Hungary soured after Safarov's
extradition by Hungary to Azerbaijan on August 31. Safarov, who had
been sentenced in Budapest to life in prison without the right to
seek pardon for the first 30 years of the term, was pardoned by Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev the day he was extradited.
Both Safarov and Margarian were attending an English language course
in Budapest doing under NATO's Partnership for Peace Program.
Safarov hacked Margarian to death while the Armenian officer was
asleep and was reportedly hunting for another Armenian who was on
the same course.
Interfax
Sept 6 2012
Russa
Azerbaijan has breached the terms of its deal with Hungary on the
repatriation of an Azeri murder convict by pardoning him, the office
of European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton has claimed.
Ashton's spokeswoman, Maja Kocijancic, said in a Radio Liberty program
on Wednesday that the EU would ask the Azeri government to explain
why it pardoned Ramil Safarov, who received a life sentence in Hungary
in 2006 for savagely murdering Armenian army officer Gurgen Margarian
in Budapest two years before.
Kocijancic argued that the Safarov affair posed a threat to regional
stability.
She also said the Safarov case might be raised during a planned
meeting of EU foreign ministers in Cyprus late this week.
The spokeswoman said the EU would explore the matter further but she
ruled out the possibility of any sanctions against Azerbaijan.
Safarov's pardon has also been condemned by European Parliament
President Martin Schulz and Council of Europe Secretary General
Thorbjorn Jagland.
"I find it unacceptable that a convicted murderer is welcomed as a
hero," Jagland said in a statement on Tuesday.
"I reject the prospect of a world whose moral code begins to fray,
where respect for human dignity is denied. This is not the Europe that
we should wish for future generations. I condemn such glorification
of crime, and urge that we all work to uphold the respect for life,
and our values as defended by the Council of Europe," he said.
Relations between Armenia and Hungary soured after Safarov's
extradition by Hungary to Azerbaijan on August 31. Safarov, who had
been sentenced in Budapest to life in prison without the right to
seek pardon for the first 30 years of the term, was pardoned by Azeri
President Ilham Aliyev the day he was extradited.
Both Safarov and Margarian were attending an English language course
in Budapest doing under NATO's Partnership for Peace Program.
Safarov hacked Margarian to death while the Armenian officer was
asleep and was reportedly hunting for another Armenian who was on
the same course.