YEREVAN.- Armenia has filed a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights on murderer Rafil Safarov’s case, Deputy Justice Minister said.
The private complaint has been filed by legal successors of deceased officer Gurgen Margaryan and representatives of Hayk Makuchyan.
At the current stage, given the fact of a personal complaint, Armenian authorities refrain from taking steps, but in due time the Armenian side will take an active part in the proceedings as the third party, Deputy Minister Ruben Melikyan told reporters.
The complaint refers to violations of Article 2 (right to life) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The working group engaged in preparing the complaint, involved local and foreign experts, including attorney Nazeli Vardanyan representing the Armenian side during trial in Budapest.
Melikyan noted this is an unprecedented case for the European Court, taking into account the committed crime. Armenian side hopes for an adequate response, he added.
Ramil Safarov, a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31, 2012 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. Safarov had planned on killing the other Armenian military serviceman, who likewise was attending the aforesaid program, but he was unable to carry out this plan.
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, he was declared a national hero, promoted to a higher military rank, and was allocated housing and pension.
And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31, 2012 that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary. Also, Sargsyan instructed the Ministry of Justice to take all measures to petition to the international judicial tribunals, and with respect to the Safarov case.
Ramil Safarov’s pardoning was condemned by virtually all international organizations.
