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HUNDREDS PROTEST PARDON OF MAN WHO KILLED ARMENIAN MILITARY OFFICER
Los Angeles Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/09/hundreds-protest-pardon-of-man-who-killed-armenian-military-officer.html
Sept 7 2012
CA
Roughly 400 people protested Thursday outside the consulates of Hungary
and Azerbaijan, decrying the release and pardon of an Azerbaijani
soldier convicted of killing an Armenian military officer with an ax.
The murder of Gurgen Markarian occurred in 2004 at a military academy
in Budapest set up by NATO.
The Azerbaijani soldier, Ramil Safarov, was convicted of the murder
and sentenced to at least 25 years in prison without the possibility
of parole.
He was extradited to Azerbaijan last month after officials there
pledged to uphold his sentence, but upon arriving on his native soil,
he was released and pardoned. The Armenian parliament subsequently
suspended ties with Hungary. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked
in a violent conflict over disputed border territory for more than
two decades.
The demonstration Thursday was organized by a number of groups,
including the Armenian Youth Federation and Unified Young Armenians,
and attracted hundreds of people waving signs with slogans calling
for justice on behalf of Markarian, the Glendale News-Press reported.
"Hungary has to apologize about its decision and has to require that
Azerbaijan return the criminal to prison," said William Bairamian,
director of the Armenian National Committee-Western region.
From: A. Papazian
Los Angeles Times
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/09/hundreds-protest-pardon-of-man-who-killed-armenian-military-officer.html
Sept 7 2012
CA
Roughly 400 people protested Thursday outside the consulates of Hungary
and Azerbaijan, decrying the release and pardon of an Azerbaijani
soldier convicted of killing an Armenian military officer with an ax.
The murder of Gurgen Markarian occurred in 2004 at a military academy
in Budapest set up by NATO.
The Azerbaijani soldier, Ramil Safarov, was convicted of the murder
and sentenced to at least 25 years in prison without the possibility
of parole.
He was extradited to Azerbaijan last month after officials there
pledged to uphold his sentence, but upon arriving on his native soil,
he was released and pardoned. The Armenian parliament subsequently
suspended ties with Hungary. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been locked
in a violent conflict over disputed border territory for more than
two decades.
The demonstration Thursday was organized by a number of groups,
including the Armenian Youth Federation and Unified Young Armenians,
and attracted hundreds of people waving signs with slogans calling
for justice on behalf of Markarian, the Glendale News-Press reported.
"Hungary has to apologize about its decision and has to require that
Azerbaijan return the criminal to prison," said William Bairamian,
director of the Armenian National Committee-Western region.
From: A. Papazian