YEREVAN. – A person who is charged with and imprisoned for murder cannot deserve the title of “national hero,” Baruch Ben-Neria, the former Israeli ambassador to Armenia and Georgia, stated commenting on the Ramil Safarov case.

To note, the diplomat is currently in Armenia’s capital city Yerevan where he is attending the annual international forum “Dynamics of Regional Security in the South Caucasus,” which kicked off Thursday. 

“The matter of Ramil Safarov is very unpleasant. What happened in Hungary was a truly difficult and unpleasant situation. This was followed by the reaction of numerous other countries,” Ben-Neria said.  

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 he was declared a national hero.

And Armenia’s President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31 that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary. Also, Sargsyan had instructed the Ministry of Justice to take all measures to apply to the international judicial tribunals, and with respect to the Safarov case.    

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