Radio Liberty reports that Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev affronts growing international criticism for pardoning an Azerbaijani army officer who was sentenced to life in prison for the 2004 ax murder of an Armenian Army Lieutenant Gurgen Margarian. Margarian was killed in his dormitory room in Budapest while he was sleeping. Later it was concluded that Safarov smashed Margarian’s face with an ax 16 times, nearly cutting apart his head from his body. However, after arrival in Baku, Aliyev issued a presidential pardon for Safarov.
Growing Criticism:
In Paris on September 3 the co-chairs of the Minsk Group with OSCE announced that they have met separately with the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan to discuss Safarov’s pardon.
In a statement, the diplomats said that attempts in Azerbaijan to glorify Safarov’s crime have damaged efforts to peacefully resolve the conflict between Baku and Yerevan over Nagorno-Karabakh. So trust between the two sides also has been damaged. A spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton also expressed concern about the presidential pardon.
Just a week after a Hungarian business newspaper reported that Azerbaijan could lend Hungary up to 3 billion Euros Safarov was sent back to Baku.
As reported Hungarian Prime Minister Orban’s spokesman Peter Szijjarto declined any connection between Safarov’s release and the possible sale of Hungarian bonds.
Armenian President Serzh Sarkisian urged the international community to respond the issue, saying “half measures and empty talk are not acceptable.”
