YEREVAN.- Lawyers say Armenia has every chance to win the Safarov case in the European Court of Human Rights.

The private complaint has been filed by legal successors of deceased officer Gurgen Margaryan.

Chairman of “Protection of rights without borders” NGO Siranush Sahakyan, representing legal successors Gurgen Margaryan and Hayk Makuchyan, said it is an unprecedented case, taking into account graveness of the committed crime.

“Although Armenian state agencies will refrain from taking steps, in due time the Armenian side will take an active part in the proceedings as the third party,” she said.

The complaint refers to violations of Article 2 (right to life) and 14 (prohibition of discrimination) of the European Convention on Human Rights. As to the court hearings, they may last from 2 to 4 years.

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.