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AZERBAIJAN DEFENDS FREEING CONVICTED KILLER AS ARMENIANS PROTEST
Los Angeles Times
Sept 7 2012
Ramil Safarov had been sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind
bars after killing an Armenian officer with an ax in Budapest,
Hungary. Instead he is back in his home country of Azerbaijan --
and free.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev pardoned the convicted killer last
week after Hungary agreed to return him to Azerbaijan, outraging
Armenians in the midst of tense negotiations over a disputed territory
once wracked by a bloody war and now occupied by Armenian forces.
Eight years ago, Safarov killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan
with an ax while he slept, nearly decapitating him. The two were in
Budapest for an English course sponsored by NATO. Safarov claimed
that Margaryan had insulted him and the Azerbaijani flag.
The court found no evidence of such an insult, according to Amnesty
International, which says Safarov stated he was sorry he had not had
the opportunity to kill any Armenians earlier.
Armenian officials have called the freeing of Safarov "shameful" and
cut off diplomatic ties with Hungary, despite its insistence that
it had been assured Safarov would stay in prison. In Los Angeles,
Armenian organizations have held angry protests outside the Azerbaijani
and Hungarian consulates.
"How can anyone trust Azerbaijan after this?" Glendale Community
College history professor Levon Marashlian lamented earlier this week.
Spokesman Rupert Colville said the United Nations human rights agency
was "seriously concerned" that Safarov had been pardoned, publicly
praised and even promoted after an ethnically motivated crime, which
"should be deplored and properly punished -- not publicly glorified
by leaders and politicians."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the act
could undercut the ongoing peace process. "There must be no return to
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he said Thursday at Yerevan
State University in Armenia.
President Aliyev defended his actions Friday, telling reporters they
were in keeping with the Azeri Constitution. His words were echoed
by an Azerbaijani delegate to the Council of Europe, who reportedly
argued that Safarov faced emotional stress because his family was
from the disputed area.
"His family's relatives for many years had to live the life of
refugees, and a young relative of Ramil Safarov was killed during the
occupation," Azerbaijani delegate Rafael Huseynov was quoted by an
Azeri news website. He added, "Of course, every death is a tragedy
and we do not approve of this murder, but we cannot lose sight of
the conditions under which the crime was committed."
Ethnic Armenians are the majority in the southwestern enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which voted to join Armenia decades ago before the
territory was plunged into violence. About 30,000 people were killed
in the conflict, and as many as a million people were driven from
their homes.
Though hostilities halted in 1994, skirmishes have periodically broken
out when tensions between the two countries increase. The two former
Soviet republics are still working toward a settlement.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/09/azerbaijan-frees-convicted-killer-armenians-protest.html
Los Angeles Times
Sept 7 2012
Ramil Safarov had been sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind
bars after killing an Armenian officer with an ax in Budapest,
Hungary. Instead he is back in his home country of Azerbaijan --
and free.
Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev pardoned the convicted killer last
week after Hungary agreed to return him to Azerbaijan, outraging
Armenians in the midst of tense negotiations over a disputed territory
once wracked by a bloody war and now occupied by Armenian forces.
Eight years ago, Safarov killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan
with an ax while he slept, nearly decapitating him. The two were in
Budapest for an English course sponsored by NATO. Safarov claimed
that Margaryan had insulted him and the Azerbaijani flag.
The court found no evidence of such an insult, according to Amnesty
International, which says Safarov stated he was sorry he had not had
the opportunity to kill any Armenians earlier.
Armenian officials have called the freeing of Safarov "shameful" and
cut off diplomatic ties with Hungary, despite its insistence that
it had been assured Safarov would stay in prison. In Los Angeles,
Armenian organizations have held angry protests outside the Azerbaijani
and Hungarian consulates.
"How can anyone trust Azerbaijan after this?" Glendale Community
College history professor Levon Marashlian lamented earlier this week.
Spokesman Rupert Colville said the United Nations human rights agency
was "seriously concerned" that Safarov had been pardoned, publicly
praised and even promoted after an ethnically motivated crime, which
"should be deplored and properly punished -- not publicly glorified
by leaders and politicians."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned that the act
could undercut the ongoing peace process. "There must be no return to
conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan," he said Thursday at Yerevan
State University in Armenia.
President Aliyev defended his actions Friday, telling reporters they
were in keeping with the Azeri Constitution. His words were echoed
by an Azerbaijani delegate to the Council of Europe, who reportedly
argued that Safarov faced emotional stress because his family was
from the disputed area.
"His family's relatives for many years had to live the life of
refugees, and a young relative of Ramil Safarov was killed during the
occupation," Azerbaijani delegate Rafael Huseynov was quoted by an
Azeri news website. He added, "Of course, every death is a tragedy
and we do not approve of this murder, but we cannot lose sight of
the conditions under which the crime was committed."
Ethnic Armenians are the majority in the southwestern enclave of
Nagorno-Karabakh, which voted to join Armenia decades ago before the
territory was plunged into violence. About 30,000 people were killed
in the conflict, and as many as a million people were driven from
their homes.
Though hostilities halted in 1994, skirmishes have periodically broken
out when tensions between the two countries increase. The two former
Soviet republics are still working toward a settlement.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/world_now/2012/09/azerbaijan-frees-convicted-killer-armenians-protest.html