Tweet
AZERI PRESIDENT ALIYEV REMINDS ARMENIA PARDONING OF ITS BOMBER IN 2001
Interfax
Sept 10 2012
Russia
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev defended his decision to pardon Azeri
officer Ramil Safarov earlier sentenced to life in Hungary for killing
an Armenian officer by recalling Armenia's 2001 decision to pardon
Varoujan Garabedian, who had been sentenced to life in France for
bombing a Turkish Airlines check-in desk at Orly airport in Paris
in 1983.
"I want to remind Armenians that the person who committed a terrorist
attack at Orly airport, which killed citizens of European countries
and the U.S., was extradited to Armenia in 2001. While he was not
a citizen of Armenia, the president of this country pardoned him,"
Aliyev said at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen in Baku on Friday.
"I wouldn't like to draw parallels between our officer and terrorists.
But Ramil Safarov served about 9 years in prison, and his release is
absolutely correct from the legal viewpoint. This is a presidential
decision, and it is correct. Azerbaijan has returned his officer to
his home country," Aliyev said.
It was reported earlier that Aliyev had said at a meeting with
Rasmussen that Safarov's extradition from Hungary to Azerbaijan and
his further pardoning were absolutely legitimate.
Garabedian, a former member of the Armenian Secret Army for the
Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), who was extradited to Armenia from
France in 2001, was pardoned and received by then Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian, who welcomed his release from a French prison.
Ramil Safarov, a senior lieutenant in the Azeri army, murdered Armenian
army lieutenant Gurgen Margarian in 2004 in Budapest, where both were
attending an English language course as part of NATO's Partnership
for Peace program.
In 2006, a Budapest court gave Safarov a life sentence without the
right to seek pardon during the first 30 years of the term.
However, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan on August 31, 2012,
assuming that he would serve the rest of his term in his own country,
but Azeri President Ilham Aliyev pardoned him the same day.
Interfax
Sept 10 2012
Russia
Azeri President Ilham Aliyev defended his decision to pardon Azeri
officer Ramil Safarov earlier sentenced to life in Hungary for killing
an Armenian officer by recalling Armenia's 2001 decision to pardon
Varoujan Garabedian, who had been sentenced to life in France for
bombing a Turkish Airlines check-in desk at Orly airport in Paris
in 1983.
"I want to remind Armenians that the person who committed a terrorist
attack at Orly airport, which killed citizens of European countries
and the U.S., was extradited to Armenia in 2001. While he was not
a citizen of Armenia, the president of this country pardoned him,"
Aliyev said at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Anders
Fogh Rasmussen in Baku on Friday.
"I wouldn't like to draw parallels between our officer and terrorists.
But Ramil Safarov served about 9 years in prison, and his release is
absolutely correct from the legal viewpoint. This is a presidential
decision, and it is correct. Azerbaijan has returned his officer to
his home country," Aliyev said.
It was reported earlier that Aliyev had said at a meeting with
Rasmussen that Safarov's extradition from Hungary to Azerbaijan and
his further pardoning were absolutely legitimate.
Garabedian, a former member of the Armenian Secret Army for the
Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), who was extradited to Armenia from
France in 2001, was pardoned and received by then Prime Minister
Andranik Markarian, who welcomed his release from a French prison.
Ramil Safarov, a senior lieutenant in the Azeri army, murdered Armenian
army lieutenant Gurgen Margarian in 2004 in Budapest, where both were
attending an English language course as part of NATO's Partnership
for Peace program.
In 2006, a Budapest court gave Safarov a life sentence without the
right to seek pardon during the first 30 years of the term.
However, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan on August 31, 2012,
assuming that he would serve the rest of his term in his own country,
but Azeri President Ilham Aliyev pardoned him the same day.