Lawyers for Azeri officer in Hungarian trial challenge forensic evidence
Ekho, Baku
9 Feb 05
Excerpt from report by L. Nuri in Azerbaijani newspaper Ekho on 9
February headlined “‘I believe that a fair verdict will be passed,’
said the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani armed forces, Ramil
Safarov, in an interview with Ekho”
The trial into the case of the senior lieutenant of the Azerbaijani
armed forces, Ramil Safarov, opened in the Budapest city court
yesterday [8 February].
[Passage omitted: reported details]
All the staff of the Azerbaijani embassy in Hungary, and Azerbaijani
students and professors at Budapest Central European University were
in the courtroom. The head of the centre to protect the rights
of Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons, Tatyana Chaladze,
independent Azerbaijani journalist Israfil Babayev and an Ekho
newspaper correspondent attended the trial.
For the Armenian side, apart from the [Armenian] embassy’s employees,
representatives of Hungary’s large Armenian community were present
in the courtroom. No representatives of the Azerbaijani community
were present.
At the very beginning of the trial, the Azerbaijani side’s lawyer,
(?Georgiy Madjar), asked the judge to allow Azerbaijani experts to
carry out a second forensic examination of Safarov. The chairman
agreed to the second examination but the Azerbaijani experts will
only be allowed to observe it. Hungarian law bans intervention of
experts from another state in a trial. In this case, experts from
the Budapest Institute for Forensic Research will examine Safarov.
[Passage omitted: examination due on 10 May 2005; Azerbaijani lawyers
unhappy with original forensic evidence.]
The atmosphere in the courtroom was tense from the very beginning. For
instance, the judge did not disturb the Hungarian journalists and
press photographers (who seemed to be ethnic Armenians) attending
the trial. As for the Azerbaijani journalists, judge Andrash Voskuti
asked for their identification cards as soon as the trial opened. The
journalists were allowed to film and take photos of the trial after
their documents were checked and lawyer Adil Ismayilov submitted a
request to the judge.
Despite protests of the Armenian lawyers, the chairwoman of the centre
to protect the rights of Azerbaijani refugees and displaced persons,
Tatyana Chaladze, managed to submit to the judge documents about
the Xocali tragedy and videotapes demonstrating its horrors. The
Azerbaijani embassy in Hungary repeatedly presented the judge with
materials on the Nagornyy Karabakh problem, the Xocali tragedy and
the occupation of Cabrayil District (where Safarov comes from).
The Ekho correspondent managed to talk to the Azerbaijani serviceman
during the 10-minute break in the trial.
[Correspondent] How do you feel?
[Safarov] Well.
[Correspondent] Have you been in touch with your relatives?
[Safarov] Yes.
[Correspondent] Do you have any problems?
[Safarov] No.
[Correspondent] Are you being put under pressure?
[Safarov] No pressure is being exerted on me. I have no complaints. The
conditions in which I am being held and the attitude towards me
are normal.
[Correspondent] You have an opportunity to say some words for people
back home.
[Safarov] I would not like to take advantage of this, since it would
be an indirect intervention in the course of the trial.
[Correspondent] Still, some words at least… [ellipses as published]
[Safarov] I am grateful to everybody. I believe that a fair verdict
will be passed.
[Passage omitted: Safarov’s lawyer from Hungary, Peter Zalay, says
they will do their best for Safarov to avoid life imprisonment]