HAYK DEMOYAN: VERDICT ON AZERBAIJAN’S ANTI-ARMENIAN POLICY WAS PRONOUNCED IN BUDAPEST
Noyan Tapan
Armenians Today
Apr 18 2006
YEREVAN, APRIL 18, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. The Armenian side
is satisfied with the verdict on the case of murder of officer of RA
Armed Forces Gurgen Margarian, according to which Azerbaijani officer
Ramil Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment without the right
of amnesty during the first 30 years. It is the strictest punishment
envisaged by the Hungarian legislation.
Lawyer Nazeli Vardanian representing the interests of the aggrieved
party declared this at the April 18 press conference. She considers
it unprobable that the verdict can change as a result of appealing
against it by the Azerbaijani side in the Appeal and Cassation Courts
as in Hungary the Appeal Court does not carry on new examination,
it only finds out violation of the material and judicial right, and
the Cassation Court examines newly-revealed circumstances but there
are no such circumstances in the case. The possibility of criminal’s
extradition is also excluded: the verdict envisages life imprisonment
without the right of pardon within 30 years and in case of pardoning
30 years later, according to the verdict, Safarov has no right to
visit Hungary for 10 years. The verdict envisages that all judicial
expenditures, about 10 thousand dollars, should be paid by Safarov. As
representative of RA Defence Ministry, historian Hayk Demoyan
characterized, in fact, the verdict was pronounced on Azerbaijan’s
anti-Armenian policy. This was the second serious reaction from Europe
after the response of the European Parliament to destruction of the
Armenian cultural monuments in Nakhichevan. Azerbaijan was warned that
solving issues by medieval methods is not acceptable for the world and,
in particular, for Europe. The European justice and human values won
in Hungary, H.Demoyan emphasized. The Prosecutor’s speech qualified
the murder as cruel and inhuman murder with numerous aggravating
circumstances. According to the Prosecutor, the premeditation is
conditioned by the fact that having a knife Safarov decided and bought
an axe 2 days before the murder, he grinded it and waited until 04:45
am, at first he decided to kill Gurgen Margarian who was stronger.
He intended to kill another Armenian serviceman, too but the murder
was prevented by the police. The circumstance that Gurgen Margarian
was killed only because of his national belonging was also among
the aggravating circumstances mentioned by the Prosecutor: Ramil
Safarov abused Hungary’s hospitality, as well as Gurgen Margarian’s
confidence that he was protected: he never closed the door before
going to bed. According to the press conference participants, the
court expressed a special gratitude to the Armenian side for being
reserved and mentioned with regard to the Azerbaijani side: “I do not
know a culture and a state where a murderer can be heroized”. The
participants of the press conference said that the claim of the
aggrieved party on compensation of the moral and material loss by Ramil
Safarov and Azerbaijani Defence Minister (according to the preliminary
calculations, this is 8-10 mln forints (about 500 thousand dollars)
was separated and will be examined by another judge. And on May 3,
the legal procedure on forcible actions of Ramil Safarov towards the
prison supervisors will start.