CASES OF THE EUROPEAN COURT IN A JOURNAL
A1+
[03:14 pm] 19 April, 2006
Today the presentation of the journal “Experience of the European Court
of the Human Rights” took place in which the heads of the RA Courts,
judges, advocates and representatives of NGOs participated. According
to the organizers of the event, the representatives of the Armenian
court system confirm their wish to reform the system in Armenia by
getting acquainted with the practice of the European Court.
The surprising fact was that the representatives of the Justice
Ministry which is the respondent side in the European Court in
the cases from Armenia were not present at the presentation. “Does
it testify to the fact that the executive power does not have the
desire to reform the court system? ” Asked this question by the “A1+”
correspondent Ara Ghazaryan, editor of the journal tried to answer
diplomatically, saying that the representatives of the Ministry have
come in fact; they just did not make a speech and are not in the hall
at the moment, and it does not testify to anything.
The journal the print run of which is 300 examples, includes the
investigations of the European Court, the messages, the decisions
made each month and other information connected with the court. On
the whole, the Court has made five decisions about the applications
from Armenia. They will all be published in the journal.
It is noteworthy that the staff of the journal consists exclusively
of lawyers so that there are no mistakes in the published materials.

AZERBAIJAN: FAMOUS MEDIEVAL CEMETERY VANISHES
By IWPR staff in Nakhichevan, Baku and Yerevan
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, UK
April 19 2006
IWPR reporter confirms that there is nothing left of the celebrated
stone crosses of Jugha.
Jugha Cemetery (13th-16th centuries)
Photographs from 1970s and 2006
It has become one of the most bitterly divisive issues in the Caucasus
– but up until now no one has been able to clear up the mystery
surrounding the fate of the famous medieval Christian cemetery of
Jugha in Azerbaijan.
The cemetery was regarded by Armenians as the biggest and most
precious repository of medieval headstones marked with crosses –
the Armenians call them “khachkars” – of which more than 2,000 were
still there in the late Eighties. Each elaborately carved tombstone
was a masterpiece of carving.
Armenians have said that the cemetery has been razed, comparing its
destruction to the demolition of two giant Buddha figures by the
Taleban in Afghanistan. Azerbaijan has hit back by accusing Armenia
of scaremongering, and of destroying Azerbaijani monuments on its
own territory.
Now an IWPR contributor has become the first journalist to visit
the site of the cemetery on Azerbaijan’s border with Iran – and has
confirmed that the graveyard has completely vanished.
The European Parliament, UNESCO and Britain’s House of Lords have
all taken an interest in the fate of the Jugha cemetery. A European
Parliament delegation is currently visiting the South Caucasus. But
so far none has been allowed to visit the site itself.
If international observers can confirm that the cemetery has been
razed, it is sure to spark a new high-voltage row between the two
countries, which have engaged in a bitter war of allegation and
counter-allegation since fighting ended in the Nagorny Karabkah
conflict in 1994.
The IWPR contributor was accompanied by two Azerbaijani security
service officers and was restricted in his movements. He was unable to
go right down to the River Araxes, the site of the former cemetery,
as it lies in a protected border zone. However, he was able to see
clearly that there was no cemetery there, merely bare ground.
Nor was there, as some Armenians have claimed, a military training
ground.
He did manage to see a 20th century cemetery with Armenian tombstones
that lay untouched in a nearby village.
This is one of the most inaccessible parts of Europe, located in the
Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhichevan, which is surrounded by Armenia and
Iran and – because of the unresolved Armenian-Azerbaijani dispute –
is only accessible from the rest of Azerbaijan by air.
Old Julfa, or Jugha as it is known by the Armenians, sits on the
northern bank of the River Araxes which divides Nakhichevan from Iran.
According to Armenian and other historians, Julfa was a flourishing
Armenian town in the Middle Ages. But in 1604, Shah Abbas of Persia
forcibly resettled the inhabitants to Isfahan, where to this day
there is still an Armenian quarter known as New Julfa.
The ruined town and its cemetery remained, and were visited by a
number of travellers over the years. British Orientalist Sir William
Ouseley arrived in July 1812 and found “a city now in perfect decay”,
and the remains of what had been one of the most famous stone bridges
in the world.
He wrote, “I examined the principal remains of Julfa, where 45
Armenian families, apparently of the lowest class, constituted the
entire population.
“But of its former inhabitants, the multiplicity was sufficiently
evinced by the ample and crowded cemetery, situated on a bank
sloping towards the river, and covered with numerous rows of upright
tombstones, which when viewed at a little distance, resembled a
concourse of people or rather regiments of troops drawn up in close
order.”
Historian Argam Aivazian, the principal expert on the Armenian
monuments of Nakhichevan, said that Jugha was a unique monument of
medieval art and the largest Armenian cemetery in existence. There
were unique tombstones shaped like rams, a church and the remains
of a massive stone bridge. Nowhere else in the world, he said, was
there such a big concentration of thousands of khachkars in one place.
Aivazian last visited the site in 1987, when it was still mostly
intact, despite its poor upkeep during the Soviet period.
Artist Lusik Aguletsi, a Nakhichevan-born Armenian, also last visited
the cemetery in 1987, although she was under escort.
“There is nothing like it in Armenia,” she said. “It was a thrilling
sight. Two hills completely covered in khachkars. We weren’t allowed
to draw or photograph them.”
Armenian experts now accuse Azerbaijan of a deliberate act of cultural
vandalism.
“The destruction of the khachkars of Old Jugha means the destruction
of an entire phenomenon in the history of humanity, because they are
not only proof of the culture of the people who created them, they
are also symbols that tell us about a particular cultural epoch,”
said Hranush Kharatian, head of the Armenian government’s department
for national and religious minorities.
“On the entire territory of Nakhichevan there existed 27,000
monasteries, churches, khachkars, tombstones and other Armenian
monuments,” said Aivazian. “Today they have all been destroyed.”
Although the historical provenance of the cemetery is disputed
in Azerbaijan, its cultural importance is confirmed by the 1986
Azerbaijani book “The Architecture of Ancient and Early Medieval
Azerbaijan” by Davud Akhundov, which contains several photographs of
the cross-stones of Jugha.
In Akhundov’s book, the stones are said to be of Caucasian Albanian
origin, in line with the official theory taught in Azerbaijan that
the Christian monuments there are the work not of Armenians, but of
the Albanians. The Caucasian Albanians – a people unconnected with
Albania – lived in the south-eastern Caucasus but their culture began
to die out in the Middle Ages.
Nowadays, there is a village of some 500 inhabitants known as Gulistan
near where the cemetery used to lie. The climate is harsh and dry
and the houses are mostly built of wattle and daub and stones from
the river.
The local inhabitants are tight-lipped, denying there was ever an
Armenian cemetery here
“In some parts of Julfa there are historic Christian cemeteries,
but they are monuments of Caucasian Albania and have nothing to do
with Armenians,” said political scientist Zaur Ibragimli, who lives
in Julfa.
He added that there is a large Armenian cemetery and church, still
preserved, near the village of Salkhangaya.
Husein Shukuraliev, editor of the Julfa local newspaper Voice of
Araxes said the destruction of the cemetery began as early as 1828,
when Azerbaijan became part of the Russian empire. Thousands of
tombstones were then destroyed at the turn of the 20th century when
a railway was constructed, he said.
Safar Ashurov, a scholar with Azerbaijan’s Institute of Archaeology
and Ethnography disputed that the cemetery was Armenian, calling the
ram shapes an “element of exclusively Turkish Muslim grave art”.
However, two other witnesses told IWPR that there has been more recent
destruction of the cemetery – though it may have started much further
back than Armenians allege.
A man named Intigam who works repairing tin cans in Baku said he was
posted in Julfa with the Soviet army in 1988-89. At the end of 1989,
the radical Azerbaijani nationalist politician Nemat Panahov dismantled
the border-posts on Nakhichevan’s border with Iran.
Intigam said that part of the Julfa cemetery was destroyed at that
time.
Panakhov himself declined to comment when contacted by IWPR, saying,
“Journalists always deceive me, and I don’t want anything more to do
with them.”
A second witness, who asked for his name not to be given, said that
there were khachkar stones on the site up until 2002, but they were
then removed on the orders of the Nakhichevan military command.
An Armenian architect, Arpiar Petrossian, told IWPR he visited the
Iranian side of the border in 1998 with a friend in order to look
at the monuments on that side. They also viewed the remains of the
bridge. Looking across the river into Azerbaijan, he said, they
noticed a flat-bed train apparently removing the cross-stones from
the cemetery.
Armenian deputy culture minister Gagik Gyurdjian said his government
raised the alarm in 1998.
“Then we got the entire international community up in arms and stopped
the destruction,” he told IWPR. “But in 2003 the destruction started
again. Many khachkars were buried under the earth, and the rest were
destroyed and thrown into the Araxes.”
In the last few months, the propaganda war over Jugha has reached
a new intensity – just as the latest round of Karabakh peace talks
between presidents Ilham Aliev and Robert Kocharian, held in February,
ran into trouble.
Azerbaijani president Aliev angrily denied Armenian allegations
about the Jugha cemetery last week, saying the claims were “a lie
and a provocation”.
International institutions are now demanding to be allowed to visit
the site of the cemetery. The European Parliament passed a resolution
in February condemning the destruction of the cemetery.
However, Azerbaijan said it would only accept a European parliamentary
delegation if it visited Armenian-controlled territory as well. Around
one seventh of what is internationally recognised as Azerbaijani
territory has been under Armenian control since the end of the
Karabakh conflict.
“We think that if a comprehensive approach is taken to the problems
that have been raised, it will be possible to study Christian monuments
on the territory of Azerbaijan, including in the Nakhichevan Autonomous
Republic,” said Azerbaijani foreign ministry spokesman Tahir Tagizade.
The Azerbaijani foreign ministry says old Muslim monuments have
disappeared from Armenia. In a statement, it said that at least
1,587 mosques and 23 madrassas had been destroyed in what was once
the Muslim-governed Yerevan Khanate – now part of Armenia. In the
Zangezur and Echmiadzin areas alone, more than 830 mosques have been
demolished, it said, adding that more than 500 Muslim cemeteries
have been destroyed within the territory of Armenia. The statement
did not specify when this destruction occurred.
Avetik Ishkhanian, president of Armenia’s Helsinki Committee, blames
the international community for not reacting sooner to the razing
of Jugha, contrasting the response with the outcry that followed the
Taleban’s demolition of the Buddhas of Bamian in 2001.
“Why has there not been the same reaction in this case?” asked
Ishkhanian. “At that time, world public attention was directed against
the Taleban regime, and this act of barbarism was used as a propaganda
weapon to launch military action against them.”
Reporting by Idrak Abbasov in Nakhichevan; Shahin Rzayev and Jasur
Mamedov in Baku; and Seda Muradian, Narine Avetian and Karine
Ter-Sahakian in Yerevan.
;s=f&o =261191&apc_state=henh

KARABAKH ARMY HOLDS WAR GAMES
By Karine Kalantarian in Stepanakert and Aza Babayan in Moscow
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
April 19 2006
The ethnic Armenian armed forces of Nagorno-Karabakh ended on Wednesday
week-long large-scale exercises which the disputed region’s leadership
said highlighted their ability to fend off possible military action
by Azerbaijan.
Hundreds of troops, backed up by tanks, heavy artillery and helicopter
gunships firing live rounds, practiced defensive and offensive
operations at a training ground not far from the Armenian-Azerbaijani
line of contact east of Karabakh.
The war games, which will be evaluated by top military officials
on Thursday, followed a familiar scenario, with the Karabakh army
fighting back an enemy assault and then going on counteroffensive.
They also involved a rare call-up of local army reservists who also
took in the simulated fighting.
Armenia’s Defense Minister Serzh Sarkisian and the chief of army staff,
Colonel-Lieutenant Mikael Harutiunian, monitored the proceedings
along with the leadership of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh
Republic (NKR). “At first glance, everything is alright,” Sarkisian
told reporters.
Armenian and Karabakh officials insisted that the exercises are not
connected with Azerbaijan’s renewed threats to win back Karabakh
by force or aimed at affecting the ongoing peace talks mediated by
the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe. Sarkisian claimed that President Ilham Aliev and other
Azerbaijani leaders make such threats for “propaganda purposes.”
Sarkisian also said he looks forward to Aliev’s meeting with President
George W. Bush at the White House which is scheduled for April 28. “I
am confident that the president of the United States will urge Aliev
to resolve the conflict by peaceful means,” he said.
NKR President Arkady Ghukasian, for his part, remained skeptical
about chances of a breakthrough in the peace process. “In my opinion,
Azerbaijan is dragging out the negotiations,” he said. “Azerbaijan
is not prepared for a settlement. But this is a case where I want to
be mistaken.”
Ghukasian denied the existence of any major differences between
Karabakh and Armenia on how to resolve the conflict, saying that
the Karabakh Armenians “have no reason to mistrust” Yerevan. Still,
he renewed calls for the NKR’s direct involvement in the peace process.
Meanwhile, Russia’s chief Karabakh negotiator, Yuri Merzlyakov,
confirmed on Wednesday that he and the French and U.S. co-chairs of
the Minsk Group will likely visit the conflict zone early next month
in a bid to arrange another meeting between Aliev and his Armenian
counterpart Robert Kocharian. Speaking to RFE/RL in Moscow, Merzlyakov
said the two leaders have already been presented with the mediators’
revised peace proposals and are currently studying them.
He refused to disclose those proposals.
The Minsk Group’s U.S. co-chair, Steven Mann, is due to pay a separate
visit to Baku and Yerevan later this week.

IRAN, IRAQ ON AGENDA OF G8 FOREIGN MINISTERS’ SESSION
RIA Novosti, Russia
April 19 2006
MOSCOW, April 19 (RIA Novosti) – The June session of foreign
ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations will cover
topics including Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa,
the U.S. under-secretary for political affairs said Wednesday.
Nicholas Burns, attending a meeting of G8 political directors in
Moscow, said a number of countries had also proposed discussing
the situation in the former Soviet republics of Belarus, Moldova and
Georgia, as well as Nagorny Karabakh, a largely ethnic Armenian enclave
inside Azerbaijan, and Abkhazia, a self-proclaimed republic in Georgia.
The session of G8 foreign ministers is scheduled for June 28 prior
to the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in July.

MARY-ANN ISLER BEGIN OPPOSES TURKEY’S EU MEMBERSHIP
Journal of Turkish Weekly, Turkey
April 19 2006
Chairwoman of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation Commission
Mary-Ann Isler Begin declared her oppostion to Turkey’s EU
membership. She argued that ther was a close connection between
Turkey’s EU membership and the Armenian allegations. Armenia is not
a EU country, even some experts say it is not a European country. Mrs.
Begin did not touch the occpied territories issue.
YEREVAN – Chairwoman of the EU-Armenia Parliamentary Cooperation
Commission Mary-Ann Isler Begin told then reporters in Yerevan that
Turkey’s admission to the European Union was only possible after the
re-opening of borders with Armenia and settlement of the issue of
the Armenian allegations regarding the 1915 Relocation campaign.
Turkey-Armenia territorial borders have been closed since the Armenian
occupation of 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories. Armenia does not
recognise Turkey’s national borders and call Turkey’s eastern region
‘Western Armenia’. The nationalist groups like Tashnaks in Armenia
are also against opening of Turkish borders.
However more than 50,000 Armenians work in ýstanbul and they travel
freely by air.
According to Mary-Ann Isler Begin, the European Parliament has always
been for the re-opening of the Turkish-Armenian borders. “This issue
will certainly be raised the moment of Turkey’s admission to the
European family. Otherwise, the admission of the country having
its borders with its neighbors closed to the EU is impossible”,
Isler Begin said. For Mrs. Begin, all European countries should have
friendly relations and all borders should be opened. However Mrs.
Begin did not touch the problems the two European neigbours, namely
Armenia and Azerbaijan. Almost 20 percent of Azeri territories have
been under Armenian occupation and the EU and the OSCE have named
Armenia ‘ocuupier’ in Karabakh. Turkey argues that yerevan should first
recognise Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s national unity to open the borders.
The close-borders policy is not a new strategy. The US has banned any
trade and relations with Iran and Cuba. Turkey argues that Armenia
commited worse ‘policies’ than Iran or Cuba had done. A Turkish
diplomat told the JTW that “Iran occupied no country, but Armenia did.”
On October 3, 2005, a meeting of the EU Foreign Ministers in Luxembourg
reached an agreement on Turkey’s admission to the EU. On October 4,
2005, the EU started official negotiations with Turkey.
Turkish experts forecast that the negotiations with official Ankara
may last maximum 5 years.
Dr. Nilgun Gulcan told the JTW that there is no connection between
the Armenian allegations and Turkey’s EU membership:
“The EU has no option but accept Turkey as full member to the EU
becuase Turkey has fulfilled all the requirements the EU asked. The
Armenian allegations are being used to hide the anti-Turkish
intentions. The anti Turkey groups abuse the Armenian issue and teh
Armenians are ready to be used.”
–Boundary_(ID_78qYZY4SZ2MchMJPSMeq1g)–

ARMENIA AND TURKEY SHOULD NEGOTIATE OPENLY AND FREELY, BAGDASARYAN
Anatolian Times, Turkey
April 19 2006
BERLIN – “Turkey and Armenia should talk to each other ‘openly and
freely’,” Armenian Parliament Speaker Arthur Bagdasaryan said on
Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
newspaper, Bagdasaryan reiterated allegations regarding the “so-called”
genocide, however indicated that, “nonetheless we should not waste our
future because of the past. Hopes for the future are more important
than the sorrowful memories of the past. Turkey also needs this
dialogue.”
Underscoring that he personally favored a dialogue with Turkey,
Bagdasaryan said, “we should sit around a table and resolve our
problems. Of course not all the Armenians share this view.”
The newspaper said Bagdasaryan is one of the best placed nominees
that may succeed Armenian President Robert Kocharian whose term in
office will expire in 2008.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

IRAN STARTS GAS EXPORT TO ARMENIAN IN JAN 2007 SERVICE: INDUSTRY
ISNA, Iran
Iranian Students News Agency
April 19 2006
Tehran, April 19(ISNA)-Iran will start its gas export to Armenian
from January 2007.
“Currently Iran to Armenia gas pipeline’s construction are being
carried out and we hope that these pipelines will be ready for
utilization by January 2007,” said Iran’s National Gas Company managing
director, Seyed Reza Kasaizadeh.
“In the first phase of this project, we plan to export daily 2
million square meter and in phase two we are aiming for 3 million
square meter daily,” added Kasaizadeh.

ARMENIAN MEMORIAL VANDALIZED IN FRANCE
The New Anatolian
April 19 2006
A memorial in southeast France honoring those killed in the so-called
Armenian genocide in 1915 was vandalized just a week before it was
to be unveiled, Armenian organizations said yesterday.
The memorial in Lyon was scrawled with graffiti reading, “There was no
genocide,” according to the Committee for the Defense of the Armenian
Cause and the Council of Armenian Organizations in France.
The groups expressed indignation over Monday’s incident and demanded
tight security both during the monument’s unveiling on April 24 and
during other commemorations around France the same day.
April 24 is the date chosen by Armenian communities worldwide to mark
the Armenian genocide claims. Turks say that the number of deaths is
inflated and that the victims were killed in civil unrest in a time
of war.

GOVERNMENT INFIGHTING HERALDS START OF ELECTION CAMPAIGN IN ARMENIA
By Emil Danielyan
Eurasia Daily Monitor, DC
April 19 2006
Armenia’s governing coalition is beset with fresh infighting
between the two largest political parties loyal to President Robert
Kocharian, which could have repercussions for next year’s parliamentary
election. The Orinats Yerkir (Country of Law) Party of parliamentary
speaker Artur Baghdasarian has publicly denounced Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian and his Republican Party (HHK) over questionable
privatization policies pursued by the Armenian government.
The move appears to mark the start of Baghdasarian’s election
campaign. The 36-year-old speaker, who is one of Kocharian’s potential
successors, is widely believed to be trying to enhance his populist
appeal by attacking a government in which his party is represented
by three ministers.
The row broke out on April 11 at the start of parliamentary debates
in Yerevan on the privatization of remaining state assets from 2001
through 2004. A government report on the process was expected to be
accepted by the Kocharian-controlled National Assembly without much
fuss. The parliament did endorse it, but only after three days of
bitter recriminations traded by the two coalition partners in front
of television cameras and gloating opposition parliamentarians.
Orinats Yerkir lawmakers strongly challenged the integrity of the
privatization deals handled by Armenia’s Department for State
Property Management, humiliating the pro-Markarian head of the
government agency, Karine Kirakosian. They pointed to the fact that
48 of 69 state-owned enterprises put up for sale during the four-year
period were privatized without tenders or auctions and at knockdown
prices. Most of those enterprises have long ceased to operate and were
primarily of interest to private buyers as pieces of real property.
It emerged that virtually all properties located in central
Yerevan were sold off at ridiculously low prices ranging from
$30 to $60 per square meter. The market value of real estate in
the increasingly expensive city center is at least $900 per square
meter. Newspaper reports said last week that among the lucky buyers
of lucrative properties were Trade and Economic Development Minister
Karen Chshmaritian and a businessman whose daughter is married to
Kocharian’s elder son.
Baghdasarian and his loyalists allege that the huge price disparity
is the result of government corruption and nepotism. “They have
appropriated millions and have to account for it,” Baghdasarian
charged without naming names. He also accused the government of
illegally privatizing buildings that once belonged to educational,
cultural, and scientific institutions.
Markarian and HHK parliamentarians rejected the accusations,
presenting them as yet another manifestation of Orinats Yerkir’s
trademark populism. “All privatizations were approved at government
sessions,” he told reporters on April 12. “Representatives of that
party were present at those sessions. If they had questions they
could ask them and be given explanations.” Markarian aides implicitly
threatened to publicize “compromising material” against Orinats Yerkir
in retaliation. The threats led the latter to somewhat tone down its
anti-government rhetoric. “Had we gone a bit further, we would have
destroyed each other,” admitted another HHK leader, Galust Sahakian.
The key question is what prompted Baghdasarian to lash out at the
HHK-dominated government now, just two months after he and other
coalition leaders pledged to stop embarrassing each other in public
and to preserve their uneasy marriage of convenience at least until
the 2007 election. “One can arrest any official who has dealt with
the privatization sphere at any moment and rest assured that justice
has been done,” wrote a columnist for the 168 Zham newspaper. “On the
other hand, it is clear to everyone that Orinats Yerkir does not care
much about state property privatized for nothing.”
What the party does care about is a strong showing in the next
legislative polls. Barring the absence of personal attacks on
Kocharian, the pre-election discourse of its young leader has always
differed little from that of opposition leaders. Baghdasarian’s
statements may be often demagogic and short on specifics, but they
won him the post of National Assembly speaker and the second-largest
faction in the Armenian parliament after the HHK in 2003. He is
arguably the most electable member of the ruling regime, which explains
the persistent speculation about his ambition to succeed Kocharian,
who is expected to step down after completing his second five-year
term of office in 2008.
Baghdasarian already scored more political points last October when he
forced the government, reportedly with Kocharian’s blessing, to start
compensating some of those Armenians whose Soviet-era savings bank
deposits were wiped out by hyperinflation in the early 1990s (see EDM,
October 6, 2005). (Compensation of the former deposit holders was a key
Orinats Yerkir campaign promise in 2003.) So observers wonder if his
latest offensive in the parliament was also agreed with the Armenian
president. But it is not clear why Kocharian would want to undercut the
HHK, Armenia’s number one “party of power” that has served him so well.
Some local commentators say the HHK is not 100% reliable for Kocharian
and his closest associate and most likely successor, Defense Minister
Serge Sarkisian. The latter ran for parliament on the HHK ticket in
2003 and promised to name in February the party with which he will
team up for the 2007 vote. But Sarkisian has still not made the
announcement, suggesting that he might be lacking faith in Prime
Minister Markarian’s Republicans.
(168 Zham, April 13-14; Lragir.am, April 13; Aravot, April 13;
Haykakan Zhamanak, April 12)

NAZELI VARDANIAN: HUNGARIAN COURT OF APPEAL WON’T COMMUTE VERDICT ON RAMIL SAFAROV
Azeri Press Agency, Azerbaijan
April 19 2006
“I don’t believe Hungarian Court of Appeal will commute the life
sentence on Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov.
This court will never meet the appeal for commuting the punishment,”
said lawyer Nazeli Vardanian, who represents the family of murdered
Armenian officer Gurgen Markarian, in a news conference. He said
that the Court of Appeal can only investigate whether there were
any illegalities in the court proceedings against the Azerbaijani
lieutenant. Vardanian said that the court dismissed Safarov’s claim
that he was driven to this act by the events he witnessed during the
occupation of Azerbaijan’s region of Jabrail region by Armenians.
“The court investigation found out that Ramil Safarov was not in
Jabrail at that time and did not witness the events,” the Armenian
lawyer said.
Vardanian also said that the prosecutor Margit Chokain reacted severely
to Ramil Safarov’s being declared as Man of the Year in Azerbaijan.
“The prosecutor said that he has never met a country and a nation to
declare such murderer as a prestigious figure,” he underlined.
Legal representative of Ramil Safarov’s family, lawyer Adil Ismayilov
told APA that the Armenian lawyer Vardanian’s statements are nonsense.
“Prosecutor Margit Chokain did not say such sentence on Azerbaijan
state and people. These statements were voiced by the lawyer for
Armenian side not by the prosecutor. Armenians try to make public
their opinions on behalf of the prosecutor,” Ismayilov underscored.
Adil Ismayilov also refuted Vardanian’s statements that the fact
as if Ramil Safarov was not in Jabrail during its occupation was
confirmed by the court. He said such fact was not confirmed by the
court at all.