“I don’t understand the logic of the Azerbaijani leadership, and I believe not solely myself,” renowned Ukrainian scholar, Ukrainian National Academy of Sciences Academician Miroslav Popovich told Analitika.at.ua, commenting on the Ramil Safarov case.

“By pardoning the murder, the [Azerbaijani] state is taking on a huge responsibility. I want to believe that Safarov’s pardon will not result in the escalation of the [Nagorno-]Karabakh issue,” the scholar noted. 

As per the Ukrainian academician, encouraging murder is absolutely impermissible, and the matter needs to be resolved on the basis of universal human values.  

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.