Azerbaijan Release Of Convicted Murderer Sparks Row

AZERBAIJAN RELEASE OF CONVICTED MURDERER SPARKS ROW

Legalbrief

Sept 5 2012

International criticism and concern has been growing following the
release of a convicted murderer after his transfer from Hungary
to Azerbaijan.

A BBC News report notes that Russia condemned Azerbaijan’s decision
to pardon Ramil Safarov, who hacked an Armenian to death in Hungary
in 2004. Other groups called for calm and said the incident should
not derail peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan. However,
Armenia’s President said his country would be ready if war were
to break out between the two. At the weekend hundreds of Armenians
protested outside Hungary’s consulate in the capital Yerevan, burning
Hungarian flags and pelted the mission with eggs. Ramil Safarov was
given a hero’s welcome on his return to Azerbaijan last week. As well
as an official pardon from President Ilham Aliyev, he was promoted
to the rank of major, given a flat and all the pay he had lost since
his arrest eight years ago. Safarov killed Armenian soldier Gurgen
Markarian at a military academy in Budapest in 2004, where both
servicemen attended English-language courses organised by Nato.

From: Baghdasarian