ArmInfo.Artsakh's Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement regarding the ECHR verdict in the case of Makuchyan and Minasyan v. Azerbaijan and Hungary.
As the press service of NKR MFA reports, the statement, in particular, states: <On May 26, 2020, the European Court of Human Rights ruled on the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov in Hungary in 2004, as well as the extradition, pardon and glorification of the murderer in Azerbaijan. The court ruled that Azerbaijan had violated Article 2 (the right to life) and Article 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights.
It is noteworthy that during the proceedings, the Court noted that the actions of Azerbaijan – the pardon of Ramil Safarov immediately after his arrival in Azerbaijan, the payment of salaries during his stay in the Hungarian prison, the provision of an apartment and the career advancement – indicate that Azerbaijan recognizes and accepts the crimes by Ramil Safarov as its own. The court also stressed that each of these measures individually and collectively had testified that various state structures and top officials had approved and encouraged Ramil Safarov's actions and that the approval and encouragement were strongly supported by the Azerbaijani society as a whole.
As we have repeatedly stated, pardon, heroization and popular glorification of a murderer as a role model to follow are an integral part of the state policy of the Azerbaijani authorities conducted for years on inciting Armenophobia in the country and encouraging hate crimes against Armenians. We consider it necessary to recall once again that the manifestations of racism and xenophobia against Armenians in Azerbaijan have been repeatedly mentioned in the documents of a number of international organizations, in particular, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the European Commission against Racism, and Intolerance and the Council of Europe Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities.
The fact that not only the Azerbaijani authorities, but also the majority of the Azerbaijani society approve and encourage the heinous crime committed by Ramil Safarov is an alarming signal of serious transformation of the public consciousness in the country.
The ECHR ruling on the murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov can and should become a basis for taking practical steps, supported by the international community, to eradicate the negative phenomena caused by the multi-year state policy and practice of the Azerbaijani authorities on injecting the "hatred virus" against Armenians and everything Armenian into the public consciousness>.
It should be noted that on May 26 the ECHR issued a ruling on the statement of the successors of the killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan in relation to Azerbaijan and Hungary on the extradition and release of the murderer Ramil Safarov. According to the decision of the ECHR, published on the court's website, Azerbaijan violated the Convention by releasing officer Safarov. The report of the Court also notes that the case concerns not only the release of the extradited prisoner, but also his heroization. Meanwhile, in the private actions of Safarov there were egregious manifestations of violence that were not characteristic of a military officer. According to the court, Azerbaijan violated its obligations to ensure a proper decision of the Hungarian court. In conclusion, the ECHR decided that Azerbaijan must pay to the applicants (Margaryan's successors) a compensation and legal costs amounting to 15,143.33 pounds. At the same time, the ECHR did not see any violations by Hungary, which extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan. The decision noted that in Budapest they could not know that Safarov would be released immediately upon arrival at home. To note, official Baku has already responded to this verdict of the ECHR. The spokeswoman for the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated that the court did not actually satisfy the main claim of Armenia. "So, the court's decision does not require the annulment of the decree on pardon, which is the main object of the proceedings, or the re-examination of the case against the relevant person. On the other hand, the claim for material violation of the right to reside was also rejected," the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan concluded.
