Hungarian authorities can not provide comprehensible explanation of their decision to repatriate Safarov; Nalbandian says

YEREVAN, September 5. /ARKA/. Hungarian authorities can not provide a comprehensible explanation of their decision to repatriate Azerbaijan army officer Ramil Safarov, Armenian foreign minister Edward Nalbandian told an emergency parliament session today.

Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani army Lt. convicted by a Hungarian court to life in prison for killing an Armenian colleague, Gurgen Margarian, had been sent by Hungary back to Azerbaijan to serve his prison sentence where he was pardoned by Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev. Lt. Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by a Hungarian court after he confessed to killing Lt. Gurgen Margarian, an Armenian, while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO language course. Azerbaijan’s president decision prompted Armenia to suspend diplomatic ties with Hungary.

According to Nalbandian, Hungarian authorities had known that Azerbaijan was glorifying Safarov for years. He added that the current Hungarian government that cut a dubious deal with Azerbaijan is trying to present a false letter, as if it believed Baku’s assurances that Safarov would be put in prison in Baku.

"Naturally, the Hungarian government today can not give a clear explanation as to why it so dramatically changed its position and why it believed so easily in Azeri lies," said Nalbandian.

According to him, the Hungarian government also can not bring any convincing argument as to why it acted secretly.

Nalbandian said that the OSCE Minsk Group co-chairs did not know about the deal until the last moment, as evidenced by their statements condemning Budapest and Baku for the deal.

"The Hungarian government dealt a big blow not only to its international image, but also to Armenian-Hungarian bilateral relations, which led to the suspension of diplomatic relations", he said.

He said thousands of Hungarians, their religious leaders, public organizations and political parties do not share the government's steps, strongly condemn them and express their support for the Armenian people. -0-