Azeri officer needs more experienced Hungarian lawyer
Zerkalo, Baku
23 Mar 04
The issue of defending the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani armed
forces, Ramil Safarov, who is being charged with killing an Armenian
officer, is still on the agenda. Lawyer Elcin Usubov visited him in
Budapest last week. Our correspondent met Usubov yesterday and asked
him to talk about the results of his visit to the Hungarian capital.
To recap, the Safarovs have authorized Usubov to defend their son’s
interests and carry out all the necessary procedures.
According to Usubov, before his visit to Budapest, he was fully
unaware of the functions of Ramil Safarov’s lawyer. Under Hungarian
law, only local lawyers can defend people charged with committing a
crime on Hungarian territory. Usubov said that although he spent four
days in Budapest and worked together with Ramil Safarov’s Hungarian
lawyer, Peter Zalay, he still has many questions about his
functions. Meanwhile, he said that nobody in Hungary questioned his
status as Safarov’s lawyer.
[Passage omitted: Usubov spent a lot of time on solving technical
issues]
But the main thing Usubov managed to do was a meeting with
Safarov. According to the lawyer, his client feels better, is actively
cooperating with the investigation, is in high spirits and has a calm
attitude to all the actions against him. Usubov said that Safarov
testified twice at the beginning of the investigation and his
psycho-neurological state was examined. Different checkups are
currently under way.
Usubov failed to meet the investigator dealing with the Safarov case
in Budapest. He was on leave. However, the Azerbaijani lawyer said
that the main investigative measures had been completed. But we cannot
speak about a specific date for the full completion of the
investigation.
Talking about the Hungarian lawyer, Usubov said that Peter Zalay’s
services can satisfy Azerbaijan at the current stage. But our lawyer
thinks that the Azerbaijani government should take steps to strengthen
the Azerbaijani serviceman’s defence by involving more experienced
lawyers in this work.