HAYK DEMOYAN: THE CHANCES OF SAFAROV’S EXTRADITION ARE SMALL

ArmRadio.am
21.05.2007 17:25

Last week Azerbaijani electronic media disseminated information that
the Foreign Ministers Elmar Mammadyarov and Kinga Göncz had discussed
the issue of extradition of Azerbaijani Officer Ramil Safarov. The
Foreign Minister of Hungary had noted that "the two Foreign Ministers
would discuss the question during Elmar Mamadyarov’s visit to Budapest
in June." It was noted in the publication that the Hungarian Foreign
Minister had not ruled out the opportunity of extradition.

Let us remind that currently Ramil Safarov is carrying his punishment
in Hungary for murdering Armenian Officer Gurgen Margaryan. At a
sitting on February 22 the Court of Appeal of Hungary left unchanged
the verdict of the Court of First Instance, which had sentenced
Safarov to life imprisonment.

Director of the Genocide Museum-Institute Hayk Demoyan told Radiolur
that he was present at the sittings of both the Court of First
Instance and the Court of Appeal and questioned the authenticity of
the information.

Hayk Demoyan did not exclude such opportunity, but underlined that the
possibility of extradition is small. It’s worth mentioning that there
has never been such precedent in the history of Hungarian jurisdiction.

In any case, Azerbaijan makes every effort to transfer Ramil
Safarov. During last week’s meeting between Azeri President Ilham
Aliyev and Hungarian MFA the parties discussed issues of deepening
cooperation in the spheres of economy and energy.

Reminding that there is a memorandum of strategic partnership on energy
issues between the European Union and Azerbaijan, Aliyev had underlined
that it provides a good opportunity for expanding cooperation.

"Taking into account the recent active contacts between Hungary and
Azerbaijan, we also need to consider the issue on the state level,"
Hayk Demoyan said.

Attorney Nazeli Vardanyan also considers that the issue must be
referred to on the state level. "During these years we made every
effort to have Safarov be sentenced to life imprisonment. Now we must
not let Azerbaijan and Hungary sign an agreement on extradition,"
she told Radiolur.

Acting Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Vladimir Karapetyan
informed that the MFA is taking measures to find out the authenticity
of the information disseminated by the Azeri side.

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