The matter concerning Ramil Safarov’s extradition will be discussed Thursday in Strasbourg, France, at the Human Rights Committee of the European Parliament, the latter informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

In her turn, Austrian MP Ulrike Lunacek, who is a member of the European Parliament’s EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee, told Armenian News-NEWS.am that they will demand from the Azerbaijani authorities to revoke the hero’s title, which they had bestowed upon Safarov, and to imprison him.      

As per Lunacek, the Hungarian parliament and government must demand a written explanation from Azerbaijan’s authorities as to why official Baku decided to break its promise, and, also they must raise this matter before the European Parliament.  

“By trusting Azerbaijani promises, the government of Hungary made a mistake in this matter. Azerbaijan’s authorities and President Ilham Aliyev bear responsibility for the current regional tension. Furthermore, Aliyev acts against European values by making a hero out of murderer Safarov and raising his military rank,” the European Parliament MP noted.  

Armenian News-NEWS.am reported earlier that Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31 from Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence—and with no expression of either regret or remorse—for the premeditated axe murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest back in 2004.

As expected, Ramil Safarov’s return to Baku was welcomed, as was his act of murder, by the officials of president Ilham Aliyev’s government and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president immediately granted him a pardon.

And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31 that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary.    

Ramil Safarov’s pardoning is condemned by virtually all international organizations.