  France: Safarov pardoning may undermine Karabakh settlement September 4, 2012 - 14:28 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - French Foreign Ministry expressed concern over the extradition and pardoning of Azeri assassin Ramil Safarov. According to the Ministry statement, France, as well as other OSCE Minsk Group members supports a peaceful settlement of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The Ministry believes that Baku’s decision to pardon the murderer may seriously harm Karabakh conflict settlement negotiations as well as efforts to promote the atmosphere of mutual trust. Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani army officer who was serving a life sentence in Hungary for axing to death Armenian Lt. Gurgen Margaryan, was extradited to Azerbaijan and pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Official Yerevan reacted by suspending diplomatic ties with Hungary. Hungary, however, states that it had sent Safarov back to Azerbaijan after receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that Safarov's sentence, which included the possibility of parole after 25 years, would be enforced.   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. Partner news  Top stories “The above mentioned NGOs’ participation in the forum is only possible as a part of Azerbaijani delegation,” ANP said. The military academy will be named after legendary commanders of Armenian origin Alexander Suvorov and Valerian Mandatov. French Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Jacques Faure said the co-chairs are not planning a visit to Nagorno Karabakh. Last month, renowned Turkish pianist Fazıl Say was also handed a suspended 10-month prison sentence for blasphemy.   Partner news |  Latest news International Arts Education Week ongoing in Armenia  Director-General of UNESCO Irina Bokova noted the program as a unique event reporting the achievements in the field.WB to support electronic control system launch in Prosecutor’s Office Armenia’s Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan met World Bank Country Manager for Armenia Jean-Michel Happi.Armenian-French decentralized cooperation conference due in fall Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Territorial Administration Armen Gevorgyan met with French ambassador Henri Reynaud.Google reportedly mulls buying map-software provider Waze Google has a widely used mapping tool and could adopt Waze’s technology to add social features to the software. |
