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Global Voices Online
Sept 1 2012
Hungary: Government Criticized for Its Handling of Ramil Safarov's Case
The extradition of Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan was based on the belief
that he would continue to serve his life sentence there (the Hungarian
government claimed this in an official statement [hu] on Friday).
After Azerbaijan gave amnesty to the convicted murderer, however,
Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary.
In 2004, Safarov was arrested in Hungary and later convicted for
killing Gurgen Margaryan, an Armenian citizen, while both were
participating in a NATO course in Budapest.
The Hungarian government has entered a very sensitive conflict, and
Hungarian bloggers expressed their disappointment over the country's
extremely unfortunate diplomatic resolution of Safarov's case. (A GV
text on the reactions of Armenian and Azerbaijani bloggers is here.)
Ă-rülünk, Vincent? blog wrote [hu]:
After the session of the National Security Council, Serzh Sargsyan,
the Armenian President, announced that he gave an order to the
Minister of Defense to put the Armenian Army units on special alert,
and at the same time he announced that they were severing diplomatic
and other ties with Hungary. Wow.
This is the greatest success of the Hungarian diplomacy so far. We
have never gotten into a fight with any country this fast before. [¦]
KettĹ`s Mérce blog's reaction [hu] was to mock the Hungarian
government's rhetoric on opening up to and strengthening economic ties
with Azerbaijan:
[¦] But the punchline is still the fact that despite the Azeri
government's promise that the young man would serve his remaining
term, today the Azeri news agency reported that he got amnesty from
the Azeri president. Long live the policy of opening up to the East,
the reputation of Hungary and the truth that can be bought!
VastagbĹ`r blog cites the main events that led up to the current
situation. The title of the post is `For money, anything' [hu]:
2004: Ramil Safarov, ZrĂ - nyi Miklós National Defence University's Azeri
student, killed with an axe his Armenian fellow student. In his
country he became a hero, because, according to them, killing an
Armenian is [freaking] cool.
2006: The Hungarian court convicted Ramil Safarov to life. Azerbaijan
has continuously demanded the man's extradition, but the Hungarian
state kept refusing.
July 2012: Viktor Orbán [the Hungarian PM] in Azerbaijan: `closer
cooperation with the Caspian Sea region.'
July 2012: [The Hungarian PM's spokesman] Péter Szijjártó's discussion
with the Azeri Minister of Economic Development during his two-day
visit to Baku.
August 23, 2012: A source close to the Ministry for National Economy
told the FigyelĹ` [weekly] that Azerbaijan might buy 2- or 3-year
Hungarian bonds worth 2 or 3 billion Euros. This sum would cover the
majority of our country's planned foreign currency bond issues this
year.
August 25, 2012: Armenian NGOs protested against the potential
extradition of Ramil Safarov, known as the Azeri axe murderer, who was
convicted and is serving his term in Hungary.
August 31, 2012: Today the [Ministry of Public Administration and
Justice], complying with the demand of Azerbaijan, transferred the
convicted murderer to Baku, since `the Azeri ministry informed the
[Ministry of Public Administration and Justice] that they woulnd't
alter Safarov's conviction, but directly countinue carrying out the
conviction based upon the Hungarian sentence.
While no official comment has been released on behalf of Hungary
regarding the suspension of diplomatic ties with Armenia yet,
Hungarian social media users are circulating the U.S. statement
condemning the extradition.
Due to the flood of English-language comments critizing the Hungarian
government, commenting has been disabled on PM Viktor Orbán's offical
Facebook page. Harsh comments have also been posted on the Facebook
page of the Embassy of Hungary in the United States.
Arsen Kharatyan, who protested in front of the Hungarian Embassy in
Washington, D.C., shared a photo of himself holding a poster that
read, `Buy justice in Hungary for 2 bln. $.'
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/09/01/hungary-government-criticized-for-its-handling-of-ramil-safarovs-case/
Sept 1 2012
Hungary: Government Criticized for Its Handling of Ramil Safarov's Case
The extradition of Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan was based on the belief
that he would continue to serve his life sentence there (the Hungarian
government claimed this in an official statement [hu] on Friday).
After Azerbaijan gave amnesty to the convicted murderer, however,
Armenia suspended diplomatic relations with Hungary.
In 2004, Safarov was arrested in Hungary and later convicted for
killing Gurgen Margaryan, an Armenian citizen, while both were
participating in a NATO course in Budapest.
The Hungarian government has entered a very sensitive conflict, and
Hungarian bloggers expressed their disappointment over the country's
extremely unfortunate diplomatic resolution of Safarov's case. (A GV
text on the reactions of Armenian and Azerbaijani bloggers is here.)
Ă-rülünk, Vincent? blog wrote [hu]:
After the session of the National Security Council, Serzh Sargsyan,
the Armenian President, announced that he gave an order to the
Minister of Defense to put the Armenian Army units on special alert,
and at the same time he announced that they were severing diplomatic
and other ties with Hungary. Wow.
This is the greatest success of the Hungarian diplomacy so far. We
have never gotten into a fight with any country this fast before. [¦]
KettĹ`s Mérce blog's reaction [hu] was to mock the Hungarian
government's rhetoric on opening up to and strengthening economic ties
with Azerbaijan:
[¦] But the punchline is still the fact that despite the Azeri
government's promise that the young man would serve his remaining
term, today the Azeri news agency reported that he got amnesty from
the Azeri president. Long live the policy of opening up to the East,
the reputation of Hungary and the truth that can be bought!
VastagbĹ`r blog cites the main events that led up to the current
situation. The title of the post is `For money, anything' [hu]:
2004: Ramil Safarov, ZrĂ - nyi Miklós National Defence University's Azeri
student, killed with an axe his Armenian fellow student. In his
country he became a hero, because, according to them, killing an
Armenian is [freaking] cool.
2006: The Hungarian court convicted Ramil Safarov to life. Azerbaijan
has continuously demanded the man's extradition, but the Hungarian
state kept refusing.
July 2012: Viktor Orbán [the Hungarian PM] in Azerbaijan: `closer
cooperation with the Caspian Sea region.'
July 2012: [The Hungarian PM's spokesman] Péter Szijjártó's discussion
with the Azeri Minister of Economic Development during his two-day
visit to Baku.
August 23, 2012: A source close to the Ministry for National Economy
told the FigyelĹ` [weekly] that Azerbaijan might buy 2- or 3-year
Hungarian bonds worth 2 or 3 billion Euros. This sum would cover the
majority of our country's planned foreign currency bond issues this
year.
August 25, 2012: Armenian NGOs protested against the potential
extradition of Ramil Safarov, known as the Azeri axe murderer, who was
convicted and is serving his term in Hungary.
August 31, 2012: Today the [Ministry of Public Administration and
Justice], complying with the demand of Azerbaijan, transferred the
convicted murderer to Baku, since `the Azeri ministry informed the
[Ministry of Public Administration and Justice] that they woulnd't
alter Safarov's conviction, but directly countinue carrying out the
conviction based upon the Hungarian sentence.
While no official comment has been released on behalf of Hungary
regarding the suspension of diplomatic ties with Armenia yet,
Hungarian social media users are circulating the U.S. statement
condemning the extradition.
Due to the flood of English-language comments critizing the Hungarian
government, commenting has been disabled on PM Viktor Orbán's offical
Facebook page. Harsh comments have also been posted on the Facebook
page of the Embassy of Hungary in the United States.
Arsen Kharatyan, who protested in front of the Hungarian Embassy in
Washington, D.C., shared a photo of himself holding a poster that
read, `Buy justice in Hungary for 2 bln. $.'
http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/09/01/hungary-government-criticized-for-its-handling-of-ramil-safarovs-case/