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Budapest: Tale Spin: Orban Now Says Release Of Axe Murderer 'not Une

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  • Budapest: Tale Spin: Orban Now Says Release Of Axe Murderer 'not Une

    TALE SPIN: ORBáN NOW SAYS RELEASE OF AXE MURDERER 'NOT UNEXPECTED'

    Budapest Times
    http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/09/14/tale-spin/
    Sept 14 2012
    Hungary

    Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told reporters on Tuesday that he had
    the last word in the decision to repatriate the convicted Azerbaijani
    murderer Ramil Safarov, and that he was not surprised by the killer's
    subsequent release. This puts a new spin on events: last week the
    government was claiming that it had accepted reassurances from Baku
    that Safarov would sit out the remainder of his life sentence in an
    Azerbaijani jail.

    Safarov brutally murdered a sleeping Armenian army officer in a
    premeditated axe attack during a NATO-sponsored language course in
    Budapest in 2004.

    Igniting a firestorm

    However, he was released and given a hero's welcome after being handed
    over to Azerbaijan a fortnight ago. This enraged Armenia, which
    immediately broke off diplomatic ties with Hungary, and led the US
    and EU to demand explanations from both parties to the transfer. The
    ongoing row is also threatening to reignite a conflict between Armenia
    and Azerbaijan over the disputed province of Nagorno-Karabakh.

    New story weaved

    Despite now admitting that he never expected Safarov to serve out his
    jail sentence following the handover under the Strasbourg Convention
    on the transfer of sentenced persons, Orbán maintained the government
    had acted "justly" in following international legal procedure.

    Not innocent dupes

    State news agency MTI quoted him as dismissing opposition claims that
    the government had been seeking economic help from the oil-rich Caspian
    Sea country. All relevant ministries were involved in the decision
    but the prime minister had had the final say "naturally... as always",
    Orbán said.

    EUâ~@~Hduped

    Two days earlier the office of the EU's foreign policy High
    Representative Catherine Ashton appeared to be taking at face value
    Hungary's protestations of being innocent dupes. "It would appear
    that certain conditions and commitments that were agreed between
    Hungary and Azerbaijan on the transfer of Ramil Safarov have not been
    met," spokeswoman Maja Kocijancic told Radio Free Europe's Brussels
    correspondent.

    "We will continue or we will try to be in touch with the Azeri side to
    hear the explanation why this has happened and why the behaviour that
    is endangering the fragile situation in the region is continuing,"
    Kocijancic was quoted as saying.

    Unintended consequences

    Foreign Minister János Martonyi has written to his Armenian
    counterpart Eduard Nalbandian in a bid to assure him that the handover
    of Safarov was not intended as an insult to Armenia. In a letter sent
    to MTI last Friday, Martonyi spoke of "Christian values connecting
    the two peoples for a thousand years". He urged a restoration of
    diplomatic ties, whose ongoing suspension would, he said, not serve
    Armenia's interests.

    Nevertheless, Armenian activists have continued to demonstrate outside
    Hungarian embassies, this week in Berlin, Bern and Prague.




    From: A. Papazian
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