Safarov release gives Armenia advantage in Karabakh talks - expert

September 1, 2012 - 16:53 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - The release of assassin Ramil Safarov provided the Armenian side with a strong instrument in Nagorno Karabakh conflict settlement talks, a political analyst said.

“Safarov’s release damaged Azerbaijan’s international image and produced a result contrary to what Azerbaijan hoped to get,” Caucasus Institute director Alexander Iskandaryan told a news conference in Yerevan.

“Setting free a criminal, who was convicted for an appalling murder, and declaring him a hero conflicts with all legal norms,” he said. “The Azerbaijani leadership justified a murderer and thus took the responsibility for the crime.”

Gurgen Margaryan

On February 19, 2004, 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 Partnership for Peace NATO-sponsored program. In accordance with Budapest District Court sentence dated April 13, 2006, Ramil Safarov was life imprisoned for murdering the Armenian officer.

On February 22, 2007, Budapest Court rejected the Azerbaijani military officer's appeal against a life sentence. The appeal court ruled that the decision brought by Budapest District Court against 30-year-old Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, should stand.

On August 31, 2012, Hungary extradited Safarov back to Azerbaijan, where he was promptly pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev.