As known, on 31 August 2012, the Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov, who was serving a sentence for the murder of an Armenian officer in Hungary, was extradited to his homeland and glorified for the murder. This became possible after Azerbaijan and Hungary have agreed to extradite him. Safarov had been in prison in Hungary about 8 years.
Azerbaijani columnist Nazim Mahmudov wrote an article to review the legal basis of Savarov’s extradition and the position of the leading states in this matter, and to identify the determinants of their applications. Mahmudov claims that Ramil Safarov was extradited under the European Convention on Extradition, which Azerbaijan ratified in 2002. The convention as he points “does not prohibit to pardon or amnesty the prisoner, transferred to his homeland. According to the 7th point of the first article of the Convention, Hungary had only the right (but not the obligation) not to extradite a citizen of Azerbaijan, because he committed the crime on its territory.”
On the other hand, Mahmudov notes that “pardon of Ramil was done in accordance with the President of the Azerbaijan Republic based on Article 82.2 of the Criminal Code. Some legal experts, referring to Article 82.3, considered it legally incorrect. In contrast to Article 82.3, in Article 82.2 we are talking about the release and pardon of a prisoner, and not to replace his punishment as says Article 82.3. Thus, the pardon has been done in full accordance with the legislation of Azerbaijan.”
Interestingly enough Mahmudov’s claims do not coincide with the recent resolution and statements by various European high-ranking officials pointing Azerbaijan to have violated the convention.
