Protestors marched in the streets in Stepanakert, the capital of Artsakh, voicing their opposition to the extradition of Ramil Safarov, the convicted murderer of Armenian Army officer Gourgen Margaryan, an his subsequent pardon by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.
The Armenian community of Sweden held a protest rally on Friday in front of the Hungarian Embassy in Stockholm. The protesters held slogans such as "For how much did you sell your honour?" and "We wan justice for Gurgen Markaryan".
The European Parliament reports that it will refer to the case up the of Azerbaijani axe-murderer Ramil Safarov, who was extradited from Hungary on August 31and was later pardoned and released by Azerbaijani authorities.
While we fully understand and share the feelings of our compatriots in relation to Hungarian government’s indefensible decision, we do not feel that our withdrawal from international academic and cultural forums will either enforce that message or contribute to the resolution of the current situation. Moreover, we believe that irrespective of the politics involved and further diplomatic clarifications the academic and cultural dialogue...
Visiting NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, at a joint press conference with RA President Sargsyan in Yerevan, stated that, ““I’m deeply concerned by Azerbaijan’s decision to pardon Ramil Safarov, because that decision damages trust.”
The second important factor, was the expectation that Armenia would take extreme, perhaps even hysterical and unbalanced measures, especially related to the Karabakh negotiations process; in particular, that Armenia would pull out of the talks, immediately recognize Artsakh, or even go so far as to physically remove Safarov.
The Heritage Party considers that the emerged situation is an appropriate ground to introduce the core essence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to the new generation entered to political- diplomatic circles, to reinstate the necessity of engaging the NKR representatives into theMinskgroup peace negotiations and to argue the imperativeness of recognizing the independence of Nagorno Karabakh.
A number of Azerbaijani news websites have ran a letter allegedly sent by ASALA to the Azerbaijani Embassy in Hungary, threatening to kill Azerbaijani diplomats, students, businessmen and others in retaliation for the extradition and pardon of Ramil Safarov.
Greetings to you on behalf of the Armenian Bar Association, the largest and most diverse group of Armenian-American judges, lawyers, and students who are bound together by the greatest--and often elusive--universal interest, namely justice.