ANOTHER HEARING ON AZERI OFFICER’S CASE

Assa-Irada, Azerbaijan
Sept 28 2005

Another hearing on the case of Azerbaijani officer charged with
murdering an Armenian serviceman was held in Budapest on Tuesday.

Employees of the Azeri embassy and prosecutor’s office came to court,
along with witnesses who testified at the hearing.

Ramil Safarov is charged with killing Armenian officer Gurgen Markarian
after the latter insulted his dignity and Azerbaijan’s national flag.

The court considered coming to a compromise over the results of
the forensic expertise, which was conducted twice. According to the
second expertise, the Azerbaijani officer committed the crime in a
state of affect.

The trial will continue on December 15 due to the differences in the
testimonies of witnesses.

Hungarian lawyers earlier termed the expertise held to determine
Safarov’s psychological condition as unacceptable and demanded
to conduct another one. The second expertise was held with the
permission of the Hungarian Supreme Court and involved representatives
of Azerbaijan.

According to a reliable source, the first expertise determined that
the Azeri officer was in psychologically healthy condition. The
second one, however, indicated that he was relatively unstable, i.e.
under serious stress, when he committed the murder.