30 Years Imprisonment For Ramil Safarov

[Gavur]

Safarov Did Not Repent of His Crime

18.04.2006 22:34 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ At the last session of the Budapest court Azeri army officer Ramil Safarov, charged in murder of Armenian army lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, never repented of the crime he had committed, lawyer Nazeli Vardanyan stated at a news conference in Yerevan. In her words, Safarov explained the crime by “losing control” of himself.

At that she noted that the defense of the Armenian party was more competent, that that of Azerbaijan. «We refused from politicization of the process from the very beginning, while Azeris kept speaking about the political underlying reasons of the murder, the war, ancient culture of Azerbaijan. In response to it Hungarian judge András Vaskuti noted he did not know a country, whose culture admits an inhuman murder,» Vardanyan underscored.

«It was a fierce inhuman crime on the national ground, planned in advance and aimed not only against Armenia, but also Hungary,» Nazeli Vardanyan cited the words of Prosecutor Veronica Kis.

As of the appeal, according to Hungarian laws, it can be applied for in three days after announcement of the sentence. «The Court of Appeal considers only the course of the trial in compliance with the documents. If it is discontent with anything, a new trial is assigned. However, I do not think this is possible,» Vardanyan said.

[Gavur]

Safarov Case: Hungarian Laws Do Not Admit Extradition in Case of Life Imprisonment

18.04.2006 21:52 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Azerbaijan and Hungary have no agreement on extradition of criminals, lawyer Nazeli Vardanyan, who defends interests of Gurgen Margaryan's family, stated at a news conference in Yerevan. In her words, if there had existed an agreement of the type, Safarov would not be sent to his fatherland.

«According to Hungarian laws, extradition is not allowed in case of life sentence. By this Azerbaijan merely disinforms the population on the Budapest trial,» she remarked. Vardanyan also added that the hearing on the second criminal case regarding Safarov due to his attacking the guard will begin on May 3. N. Vardanyan also thanked Armenian media for support and truthful publications.

[Gavur]

Azeri given life for murder

April 20, 2006 - Volume XIV, Issue 16

http://www.budapestsun.com/full_story.asp?ArticleId=%7b461D8E2502D940F4AF54102CDDDF05D4%7d&From=News

By Susanne Zolcer

TWO years after the murder of the Armenian Lieutenant Gurgen Markaryan by Azerbaijani Lieutenant Ramil Safarov in Budapest, the Budapest City Court sentenced the Azeri officer to life imprisonment last week (Apr 13) for having planned the "brutal and unprincipled act" beforehand.

As earlier reported in The Budapest Sun (NATO case continues, Mar 23), Markaryan and Safarov were studying English in Budapest's Zrínyi Miklós Defense University as part of the NATO Partnership for Peace program, when Safarov stabbed Markaryan to death in apparent revenge for "what Armenians did to [his] family."

During the hearing on Thursday, Safarov denied having planned the murder beforehand and said he had bought an axe for self-defense only.

According to Havaria Press, six psychiatrists had examined the Azeri officer and found him antisocial and weakly patriotic, but not insane. In explanation of the crime, Safarov said he became a soldier to execute Armenians, as "it is something to be proud of to kill them."

He added, "It is not a felony; I am glad to have murdered at least one of them, as it is my mission to kill all Armenians, because as long as there are Armenians in this world, we Azeris will suffer."

After Safarov's conviction the Azerbaijani police broke up a rally in Baku in protest against the life sentence handed down by the Hungarian court, Azerbaijani TV channel ANS reported.

Akif Nagi, chairman of the Karabakh Liberation Organization who participated in the protests said, "An injustice has been done to Ramil Safarov.

Armenians bought the Hungarian court with money and we demand that the unfair sentence handed down be changed."

According to Elmira Suleymanova, an Azeri ombudsman who asked for the extradition of the soldier, "The verdict was unjust and it offended all Azerbaijani people." According to the Coordination Council on Protection of Ramil Safarov's Rights, the sentence was not reasonable, as it didn't take Safarov's background and mental state into consideration.

The council said that Safarov not only had to witness the murder of some of his relatives by Armenian military forces, but had also been insulted by Markaryan, who humiliated him and his national pride during his stay in Budapest several times.

"The factors influencing Safarov's psychology were not investigated thoroughly and the case has been treated with an indifference that is not characteristic of the Hungarian court.

"We expected a more light punishment and we hope that, at other levels of the Hungarian court, a just sentence will be achieved."



*Bold by Gav

[Gavur]

Life in Prison for Safarov: Hungarian court reaches verdict for killer of Margaryan

By John Hughes
From Internet news reports

Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani Army officer who admitted hacking to death Armenian Army Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan was sentenced to life in prison by a court in Budapest, Hungary Thursday.

Margaryan’s killer told a court he was provoked

In handing down its sentence the district court said Safarov’s murder was “premeditated, malicious and unusually cruel”. It is the harshest sentence allowable by law in Hungary, where the death penalty was abolished in 1990.

Safarov, 29, was also found guilty of plotting to kill another Armenian officer, although the plan was not carried out. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years.

On February 19, 2004, Safarov attacked Margaryan while the victim was asleep and, using an axe, mortally wounded the Armenian, nearly decapitating him.

"Compassion and remorse were completely missing from (Safarov's) testimony," Judge Andras Vaskuti said, announcing the sentence. "During the whole case we waited for him to be at least a bit sorry for the Armenian soldier he killed brutally and for (Margaryan's) family."

The officers were participants in an English-language regional training program, ironically titled “Partnership for Peace”, sponsored by NATO in the Hungarian capital.

The killing enflamed smoldering anger between publics in Armenia and Azerbaijan, bitter enemies since the late 1980s, when the Armenians in Karabakh initiated a movement to secede from Azerbaijan in the Armenian-populated Nagorno Karabakh. The enclave had been under Azeri rule since the days of Josef Stalin. The countries have been in an uneasy ceasefire since 1994, after a four-year war.

Earlier this year passions were again stirred when an Azeri political party named Safarov “Man of the Year”, sparking angry public demonstrations in Armenia, and leading a fringe party leader to announce a bounty on Safarov’s life, should he not receive the maximum sentence.

Safarov has said the murder was a revenge killing, carried out to avenge losses his family suffered during the war.

During a statement in court Thursday, however, he denied that the killing was premeditated, saying it was provoked because Margaryan had ridiculed and insulted him during the training program.

"My conscience was clouded as a result of the insults and humiliating and provoking behavior, and I lost all control," Safarov told the court. "It would not be correct to consider it as merely a premeditated act caused by the awakening of revenge and hate upon seeing the Armenians."

Safarov's lawyer, Gyorgy Magyar, said he would appeal the verdict. He also said it was not clear whether Safarov would serve the sentence in Hungary or be extradited to Azerbaijan. (Republic of Armenia Ministry of Defense representative Hayk Demoyan, who participated in the trial, told A1+ news agency that Hungarian law stipulates that Safarov’s sentence be served in Hungary.)

Margaryan family attorney Nazeli Vartanyan called the outcome “a good decision for the Hungarian court and for Armenian society”.