Leaked doc suggests Azerbaijan cheated Hungary - report

September 10, 2012 - 14:22 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A restricted document issued by the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs (MKI), leaked by news website nol.hu last week, indicates that Hungarian authorities were misled by Azerbaijan in connection with the handover of the Azeri officer who killed an Armenian officer in Hungary eight years ago, according to politics.hu.

The MKI’s head Botond Zakonyi said the leaking of the document, which analyzed the diplomatic situation, had been “unfortunate”. The Institute, a government agency for foreign affairs, regularly issues such reports on key affairs of Hungarian diplomacy, he added.

The document, according to nol.hu, stated that Prime Minister Viktor Orban had met Azeri President Ilham Aliyev to discuss the repatriation of the prisoner. Aliyev promised him that the life-sentenced Ramil Safarov would be kept behind bars, the doc said.

The MKI report concluded that Hungary had been misled by the Azeri president, nol.hu reported, citing a copy of the document. It added that Hungary was surprised by Safarov’s release and needed 24 hours to formulate an official government position on the matter. The report added that Azerbaijan tried to give the false impression there had been an agreement with Hungary on Safarov’s release.

“Azerbaijan is much more important to Hungary at the moment than vice versa,” the report said, adding that for this reason Budapest would not openly say that the Azeri president had misled Orban.

The MKI suggested that Hungary should pursue a communications strategy which made it plain that the release had been made without Hungary’s consent. “We must speak of a misunderstanding,” the report said.

The report said it was clear that relations between Hungary and Armenia would be icy for a period of time but it added that “in the medium-term relations could be revived through hard work.”

Safarov was convicted in Hungary in 2006 for murdering the Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan two years earlier, when the two men attended a NATO English-language course together.

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.