BUDAPEST. – The Hungarian government’s decision on the repatriation of the Azeri axe murderer was just, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in parliament on Monday.

Orbán noted that he rejected suggestions by the opposition Socialists that financial considerations were behind the government’s decision to transfer Ramil Safarov to his homeland, Politics.hu website reports.

He said the legal practice in Hungary “had always been and will remain so” to allow a sentenced person to complete their punishment at home, if their home country requests this.

Orbán also said the government took into account the considerations of international law and diplomacy.

To note, Hungary’s Socialists have called on the government to disclose all documents pertaining to Safarov’s transfer and the country’s ombudsman asked for a comprehensive report.

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.