YEREVAN. – Washington expects explanations from Budapest and Baku with respect to Ramil Safarov’s extradition and pardon, US Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern stated Monday, at Armenia’s  Chief Prosecutor’s Office, during official signing of the agreement on continuing the juridical cooperation between Armenia and US.   

The Ambassador recalled that the US made an announcement immediately after the extradition, and expressed a concern and apprehension by this development. 

“I want to reconfirm that the US, as an OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chair, is against any manifestations that threaten the fragile peace process. We expect explanations from Budapest and Baku, and we will be persistent in receiving them,” the US Ambassador stressed.

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, the US Department of State was in touch with the Azerbaijani authorities, in connection with Ramil Safarov being granted pardon, and it expressed its deep concern in this regard, the State Department’s Acting Deputy Spokesperson Patrick Ventrell had stated during a daily press briefing last week. 

“We most definitely have been in touch with [Azerbaijan’s] authorities. I’d have to check in after the briefing to see at what level. But our statements expressed our deep concern in this regard, and so we’ve definitely been in touch through bilateral communication through those channels. But let me see if we can get you a little bit more information,” he said.

In response to the query as to what does all of this mean for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict’s settlement process, Ventrell noted:

“We’re going to continue to maintain contacts with both Armenia and Azerbaijan to peacefully resolve the conflict and reduce tensions. And we really condemn any action that fuels regional tensions, and that’s why we were so deeply disappointed by Hungary’s decision to transfer him to Azerbaijan.”

And with respect to the question as to whether the comments by the president of Azerbaijan are stirring up problems, US Department of State’s Acting Deputy Spokesperson responded:

“I haven’t seen his comments since then, but we were deeply troubled at the time, and we continue to be troubled.”

To note, 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.