Tweet
ESTONIA'S ARMENIANS, AZERIS HOLD PROTEST RALLIES
Baltic News Service / - BNS
September 6, 2012 Thursday 2:27 PM EET
TALLINN, Sep 06, BNS - Both the Armenians and the Azeris living in
Estonia staged demonstrations in Tallinn on Thursday in connection with
the tensions that have flared up between Armenia and Azerbaijan lately.
The Armenians gathered at the Armenian church in downtown Tallinn to
protest the repatriation to and freeing in Azerbaijan of Ramil Safarov,
an officer convicted of and serving a life sentence in Hungary for
murdering an Armenian officer.
In response to the unsanctioned demonstration around 100 Azeris in turn
gathered within a few hours outside the Azerbaijani embassy to express
their indignation and displeasure over the provocations organized by
groups connected with the Armenian community, the Azerbaijan Community
of Estonia said.
Safarov killed Armenian Lt. Gurgen Margarjan with an axe in 2004 at
a military academy in Budapest where both servicemen were attending
an English language course organized in the framework of NATO's
Partnership for Peace program. The Hungarian police then described
the murder as particularly cruel.
A court in Budapest in 2006 sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment
without the right to appeal for pardon for 30 years.
Hungary agreed to send Safarov back to his home country after
assurances by the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that he would continue
serving his sentence in his home country. However, Safarov was pardoned
by President Ilkham Aliyev as soon as he arrived in Azerbaijan,
which triggered mass protests in Armenia.
Armenia on Friday broke diplomatic relations and "all official ties"
with Hungary.
Baltic News Service / - BNS
September 6, 2012 Thursday 2:27 PM EET
TALLINN, Sep 06, BNS - Both the Armenians and the Azeris living in
Estonia staged demonstrations in Tallinn on Thursday in connection with
the tensions that have flared up between Armenia and Azerbaijan lately.
The Armenians gathered at the Armenian church in downtown Tallinn to
protest the repatriation to and freeing in Azerbaijan of Ramil Safarov,
an officer convicted of and serving a life sentence in Hungary for
murdering an Armenian officer.
In response to the unsanctioned demonstration around 100 Azeris in turn
gathered within a few hours outside the Azerbaijani embassy to express
their indignation and displeasure over the provocations organized by
groups connected with the Armenian community, the Azerbaijan Community
of Estonia said.
Safarov killed Armenian Lt. Gurgen Margarjan with an axe in 2004 at
a military academy in Budapest where both servicemen were attending
an English language course organized in the framework of NATO's
Partnership for Peace program. The Hungarian police then described
the murder as particularly cruel.
A court in Budapest in 2006 sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment
without the right to appeal for pardon for 30 years.
Hungary agreed to send Safarov back to his home country after
assurances by the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that he would continue
serving his sentence in his home country. However, Safarov was pardoned
by President Ilkham Aliyev as soon as he arrived in Azerbaijan,
which triggered mass protests in Armenia.
Armenia on Friday broke diplomatic relations and "all official ties"
with Hungary.