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SAFAROV TO RETURN TO ACTIVE DUTY
asbarez
Monday, September 24th, 2012
Azeri axe-murderer Ramil Safarov BAKU (RFE/RL)-Ramil Safarov, the
Azerbaijani army officer who had hacked to death an Armenian colleague
in Hungary, will return to active duty military service soon, a senior
Azerbaijani military official said over the weekend.
"Right now Ramil Safarov is on vacation and having a rest. He will
return to service after the vacation," Major-General Ramiz Najafov,
head of the external relations department at the Azerbaijani Ministry
of Defense, told the SalamNews agency. Najafov did not specify whether
Safarov will serve and in what capacity.
Citing "threats" from Armenia, the general also said that Azerbaijani
authorities are taking "necessary measures" to protect him against
possible assassination attempts. "Relevant structures are taking
security measures with regard to Safarov," he said.
Safarov received a hero's welcome in Baku on August 31 following his
extradition from Hungary and immediate pardoning by President Ilham
Aliyev more than eight years after he axe-murdered Armenian Lieutenant
Gurgen Markarian during a NATO training course in Budapest. He was
promoted from the rank of lieutenant to major, granted a free apartment
and paid eight years' worth of back pay the following day.
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev personally met with the
35-year-old and wished him future success in his military career.
Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Hungarian court
in 2006, has not been seen in public since then.
The release of the convicted axe-killer has provoked a furious
reaction from Armenia and strong international criticism. The United
States, the European Union and Russia consider it a serious blow
to their long-running efforts to broker a peaceful solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"We continue to express our dismay and disappointment," U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Philip Gordon told RFE/RL in Washington on Thursday.
"In our view, this is someone who should have continued to serve out
his sentence, and certainly we were appalled by the glorification that
we heard in some quarters of somebody who was convicted of murder,"
Gordon said.
Najafov insisted, however, that Aliyev's decision to pardon Safarov
was an "exceptionally humane step."
asbarez
Monday, September 24th, 2012
Azeri axe-murderer Ramil Safarov BAKU (RFE/RL)-Ramil Safarov, the
Azerbaijani army officer who had hacked to death an Armenian colleague
in Hungary, will return to active duty military service soon, a senior
Azerbaijani military official said over the weekend.
"Right now Ramil Safarov is on vacation and having a rest. He will
return to service after the vacation," Major-General Ramiz Najafov,
head of the external relations department at the Azerbaijani Ministry
of Defense, told the SalamNews agency. Najafov did not specify whether
Safarov will serve and in what capacity.
Citing "threats" from Armenia, the general also said that Azerbaijani
authorities are taking "necessary measures" to protect him against
possible assassination attempts. "Relevant structures are taking
security measures with regard to Safarov," he said.
Safarov received a hero's welcome in Baku on August 31 following his
extradition from Hungary and immediate pardoning by President Ilham
Aliyev more than eight years after he axe-murdered Armenian Lieutenant
Gurgen Markarian during a NATO training course in Budapest. He was
promoted from the rank of lieutenant to major, granted a free apartment
and paid eight years' worth of back pay the following day.
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev personally met with the
35-year-old and wished him future success in his military career.
Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Hungarian court
in 2006, has not been seen in public since then.
The release of the convicted axe-killer has provoked a furious
reaction from Armenia and strong international criticism. The United
States, the European Union and Russia consider it a serious blow
to their long-running efforts to broker a peaceful solution to the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
"We continue to express our dismay and disappointment," U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Philip Gordon told RFE/RL in Washington on Thursday.
"In our view, this is someone who should have continued to serve out
his sentence, and certainly we were appalled by the glorification that
we heard in some quarters of somebody who was convicted of murder,"
Gordon said.
Najafov insisted, however, that Aliyev's decision to pardon Safarov
was an "exceptionally humane step."