Arminfo
2007-02-22 20:34:00

The Court of Appeal of Hungary made no changes to the verdict of the
Court of 1st Instance on the case of Azeri officer Ramil Safarov

"At the today’s sitting, the Court of Appeal of Hungary made no
amendments to the verdict of the Court of 1st Instance on the case of
Azeri officer-killer Ramil Safarov," lawyer Nazeli Vardanyan – who
presented Armenian side in the case in the Court of 1st Instance, told
ArmInfo correspondent today. An Azeri officer Ramil Safarov hacked to
death Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan and attempted to kill another
Armenian officer – Hayk Makuchyan in Hungary on 19 Feb 2004. The Court
of 1st Instance sentenced the killer R. Safarov to life term
imprisonment without a right to appeal for pardon for 30 years.

And so, the regular efforts of Azeris for a new expertise failed. N.
Vardanyan said that the verdict of the Court of Appeal can be reviewed
in the Court of Cassation of Hungary only if serious violations took
place and if material rights were violated and if new details of the
case emerged. "None of such happened," the lawyer pointed out and
added that the Court of Appeal actually was the last chance of Azeris
to try to smoothen the verdict. "They have no chances left," asserted
N. Vardanyan. She emphasized that Azeri side tried to "explain" to the
Court to make it take into account that R. Safarov is a representative
of "other culture" and that assassination of an Armenian is not a
crime in Safarov’s country.

However, Armenian side declared that it was an ethnic murder and that
nowadays, assassinations in the world are based on ethnicity. The
lawyers mentioned the recent assassination of Hrant Dink, and the
Court took it into consideration when making the verdict.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress