AZERI PARDON CONCERNS U.N.
United Press International UPI
Sept 7 2012
Published By United Press International
GENEVA, Switzerland, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A U.N. rights official said
there were concerns about a decision by the Azeri courts to pardon
a soldier accused of killing an Armenian officer in Hungary.
The Azeri courts issued a pardon for Azeri military officer Ramil
Safarov after he was extradited from Hungary. He was sentenced to
life in prison by a Hungarian court for killing Armenian officer
Gurgen Markaryan in 2004.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights, said Safarov's attack on Markaryan was clearly ethnically
motivated.
"International standards regarding accountability for serious crimes
should be upheld," he said in a statement Friday. "Ethnically motivated
hate crimes of this gravity should be deplored and properly punished,
not publicly glorified by leaders and politicians."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met Friday with
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev as part of his tour of the
Caucasus.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have gone to war over the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh. Both sides exchanged fire over the territory
earlier this year.
Rasmussen said peaceful reconciliation was the only to resolve
ongoing issues.
"The only way forward is through dialogue, compromise, and
cooperation," he said in a statement from Baku.
http://www.upiasia.com/Top-News/2012/09/07/Azeri-pardon-concerns-UN/UPI-98871347035060/
From: Baghdasarian
United Press International UPI
Sept 7 2012
Published By United Press International
GENEVA, Switzerland, Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A U.N. rights official said
there were concerns about a decision by the Azeri courts to pardon
a soldier accused of killing an Armenian officer in Hungary.
The Azeri courts issued a pardon for Azeri military officer Ramil
Safarov after he was extradited from Hungary. He was sentenced to
life in prison by a Hungarian court for killing Armenian officer
Gurgen Markaryan in 2004.
Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights, said Safarov's attack on Markaryan was clearly ethnically
motivated.
"International standards regarding accountability for serious crimes
should be upheld," he said in a statement Friday. "Ethnically motivated
hate crimes of this gravity should be deplored and properly punished,
not publicly glorified by leaders and politicians."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen met Friday with
Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev as part of his tour of the
Caucasus.
Armenia and Azerbaijan have gone to war over the disputed territory
of Nagorno-Karabakh. Both sides exchanged fire over the territory
earlier this year.
Rasmussen said peaceful reconciliation was the only to resolve
ongoing issues.
"The only way forward is through dialogue, compromise, and
cooperation," he said in a statement from Baku.
http://www.upiasia.com/Top-News/2012/09/07/Azeri-pardon-concerns-UN/UPI-98871347035060/
From: Baghdasarian