Justice Ministry of Hungary was surprised at pardon granted to Azerbaijani murderer Ramil Safarov after he was extradited from Hungary, says the statement by the Justice Ministry of Hungary.
The ministry declares that Azerbaijan had officially assured Hungary that Safarov would further serve his sentence in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan is a member of the UN Security Council, Council of Europe, and Baku's official letter was a just cause for trusting Azerbaijan's assurances, the statement reads.
Foreign Ministry of Hungary came out with a similar statement wherein it expressed surprise at Azerbaijan's decision to grant pardon to Safarov, which is inadmissible and very sad for Hungary. The Hungarian Public Radio made the statement public. The statement reads that Safarov's extradition was not economically motivated. Commenting on Mass Media reports that Armenians allegedly prepare an attack on the Azerbaijani Embassy in Hungary, the Foreign Minister of Hungary said that the authorities have already taken relevant steps in this context.
The Hungarian Prime Minister's Office also made an official statement on the Public Television of that country and declared hat Hungary will further develop economic relations with Azerbaijan, because it is not connected with international legal issues, in particular, with
extradition of the murderer Ramil Safarov. The prime minister's spokesperson Peter Szijjarto said the government of Hungary really
negotiated with the Azerbaijani authorities to enhance economic cooperation.
It is noteworthy that the Hungarian Government's decision to extradite Safarov aroused big domestic political response and become a reason for criticism by the opposition of Hungary. Particularly, oppositional parties in Hungary demanded the authorities to meet with
Azerbaijani president and discuss the situation. The opposition plans to make the same suggestion to the president of Azerbaijan. The
Hungarian opposition declares that the government of that country sold the Azerbaijani murderer.
To recall, on August 31 the Armenian authorities adopted a decision to suspend diplomatic relations and official contacts with Hungary
after the Hungarian authorities extradited Azeri officer Ramil Safarov, who was sentenced by a Hungarian court to life in jail for killing sleeping Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in Budapest in 2004. Both the officers were undergoing an English language course under the NATO PfP program. The same day after Safarov's extradition, Azeri President Ilham Aliyev decreed to pardon and reward the criminal.
Budapest regrets the decision to trust Baku
