LETTER: CANADIAN ACTIVIST SENDS MISSIVE TO HUNGARIAN AMBASSADOR
Opinion | September 10, 2012 10:00 am
(The following letter was sent to Laszlo Pordany, Hungary’s ambassador
to Canada, in Ottawa.)
Dear Mr. Ambassador,
I am raising my voice of disapproval for your Government’s act of
negligence releasing a murderer called Ramil Safarov. A killer judged
by law and serving a life sentence in your country was released and
sent back to his country of ori gin, Azerbaijan.
A childish and a naive act of good-willingness resulted in making
a hero out of a criminal. As matter of fact as per a news release,
the killer on his return has been congratulated by Aliyev, cleared
of any guilt awarded over eight years’ worth of salary for the time
he spent in a Hungarian prison, and gifted him with an apartment.
As per another report from news.az, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister
Safar Abiyev pro- moted Ramil Safarov from the rank of lieutenant
to major, a day after the latter was extradited to Azerbaijan from
Hungary and received a pardon from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
I am full of disgust for the way your government acted.
Economic considerations and financial dealings should never be a
valid cause to suppress human rights. Unfortunately, as an EU member,
Hungary, which cherishes the principles of democracy and justice,
supported the nasty pro- gram of justifying an Azerbaijani murderer,
a fact, which is pregnant with the threat of murders on the basis of
nationality and religion.
We need to see a serious effort in correcting this blunder. Your
minister of justice as well as your minister of foreign affairs are
to be demoted and to be brought to order.
The promoted hero “Major” Safarov is to be repatriated (if yet
possible) and Azerbaijan’s way of handling the issue is to be
questioned.
Simple face-saving actions will not be enough.
– Berdge Manoukian Armenian Rights Council of Canada Montreal
From: Baghdasarian