Vice-speaker: Safarov amnesty proves Azeri hostility to Armenians

PanARMENIAN.Net - National Assembly vice-speaker commented on reports about extradition of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan’s assassin Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan.

“Hungarian authorities’ step to extradite Azeri criminal Ramil Safarov sparks minimum bewilderment and indignation. As to Azeri President Ilham Aliyev’s granting amnesty to him, it reaffirms Azeri hostility to Armenians,” Eduard Sharmazanov said.

Lieutenant of the Armenian Armed Forces Gurgen Margaryan, 26, was hacked to death, while asleep, by a fellow Azerbaijani participant, lieutenant Ramil Safarov, in Budapest during a three-month English language course in the framework of NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace program.

On April 13, 2006, Budapest District Court sentenced Safarov to life in prison for murdering Margaryan. On February 22, 2007, Budapest Court rejected the Azerbaijani military officer's appeal against the verdict, precluding possibility of pardon for the initial 30 years.

By a decree of then-President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, officer Margaryan was awarded with a posthumous Medal for Courage on February 19, 2005.