Murderer Cannot Deserve Title Of "National Hero" – Israel’s Former A

MURDERER CANNOT DESERVE TITLE OF “NATIONAL HERO” – ISRAEL’S FORMER AMBASSADOR TO ARMENIA

November 29, 2012 | 14:13

YEREVAN. – A person who is charged with and imprisoned for murder
cannot deserve the title of “national hero,” Baruch Ben-Neria, the
former Israeli ambassador to Armenia and Georgia, stated commenting
on the Ramil Safarov case.

To note, the diplomat is currently in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan
where he is attending the annual international forum “Dynamics of
Regional Security in the South Caucasus,” which kicked off Thursday.

“The matter of Ramil Safarov is very unpleasant. What happened in
Hungary was a truly difficult and unpleasant situation. This was
followed by the reaction of numerous other countries,” Ben-Neria said.

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant
in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31 from Hungary,
where he was serving a life sentence-and with no expression of
either regret or remorse-for the premeditated axe murder of Armenian
lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership
for Peace program in Budapest back in 2004.

As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was his
act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s government
and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president
immediately granted him a pardon and he was declared a national hero.

And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31 that
Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary. Also, Sargsyan
had instructed the Ministry of Justice to take all measures to apply
to the international judicial tribunals, and with respect to the
Safarov case.

Ramil Safarov’s pardoning is condemned by virtually all international
organizations.

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