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Fuad Alasgarov: â€œRamil Safarovâ€™s return to Azerbaijan became possible due to personal influence of President Ilham Aliyev in international arenaâ€ â€“ INTERVIEW

31 August 2012 15:55 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Head of the Department of the Presidential Administration for Work with Law-Enforcement Organizations Fuad Alasgarov expressed his opinion about the extradition of officer of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces Ramil Safarov to Baku with a special flight and pardoning him by the order of President Ilham Aliyev. APA presents interview with Alasgarov:

- Please give details about the Ramil Safarovâ€™s release.

- President Ilham Aliyev is always working for ensuring the rights and interests of Azerbaijani citizens all over the world. Ramil Safarov is an Azerbaijani citizen. Ramil Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment by Budapest court in 2006 for killing of Armenian officer Gurgen Markaryan, who insulted Azerbaijani flag and people during the NATO courses in Hungary in 2004. According to the court decision, who would be released conditionally after serving 30 years in the prison.

Ramil Safarov was brought to Baku with Azerbaijani Airwaysâ€™ special flight at 14.30 today and he was pardoned by the order of President Ilham Aliyev on the same day.

Ramil Safarov was extradited in accordance with the European Convention on Extradition. Azerbaijan joined this convention in 2000.

The convention describes the terms of extradition of convicted person to the country where the person has to serve in prison, the results of this legal act for the country issuing verdict and the country where the person is extradited to, as well as the articles regulating the rules of relevant inquires and responses.

According to the European Convention, contacts were established with the relevant state organizations of Hungary and intensive talks were conducted for returning Ramil Safarov to his homeland.

As a result of long preparatory work, the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan sent an official inquiring to the Ministry of State Administration and Justice of Hungary describing the terms of Safarovâ€™s extradition to our country. As soon as Hungary gave positive response, the work began for solving technical issues of his extradition.

- Hungarian side persisted long time not to return Ramil Safarovâ€¦

-Yes, there were certain problems, because this process was politicized in advance. The Armenian lobby was seriously preventing his extradition to Azerbaijan. I would note that the President of Azerbaijan kept the Ramilâ€™s extradition to our country under control during this period. The President held high-level talks for it and all necessary measures were taken under his order. As a result of this work, Ramilâ€™s return to Azerbaijan became possible due to political will of the President, who always shows fidelity to principles for the protection of the rights and interests of the Azerbaijani citizens, and his personal influence in the international arena.

-Many people in our country considered that there was unfair verdict. The court didnâ€™t estimate the emotional situation of Ramil Safarov. Especially, it is clearly seen in comparison with light punishment of Breivik, who killed 77 people.

-I would not to speak about the justice of another country. Ramil Safarov repeatedly explained the context of incident during the trial. Ramil is from Jabrayil region, which is under occupation of Armenia. He lost his relatives and these events occurred in front of his eyes and remained in his childhood memory. He faced Armenian provocations during the NATO courses when Armenian officer insulted Azerbaijani flag and people. It is possible to conceive the emotional state of the person who saw such tragedies. It was also noted that Ramilâ€™s lawyers repeatedly gave petitions on violation of his protection law during the judicial process. So, he testified in Russian, which he knew not so good, he was not ensured with lawyer during the first interrogation and bill of indictment was presented in Turkish. The lawyers also gave petitions on the other serious procedural violations.

- President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order of pardon to release Ramil Safarov on the day of his extradition to Baku. And what does the Convention say about the possibility of pardoning the extradited person?

- According to the European Convention on Extradition, any country, which joined this Convention, can pardon, apply amnesty and reduce punishment of the extradited person in accordance with its Constitution or other laws. Ramil Safarov has already served a sentence more than eight years. Pardoning him is the exclusive authority of the Head of State in accordance with 22nd paragraph of the 109 Article of Azerbaijanâ€™s Constitution and the President showed great humanism and used this authority.
This courageous step by the President shows that as the President and Supreme Commander-in- Chief of Azerbaijan he advocates for every Azerbaijani citizen, soldier and officer. It is also a sign of solidarity of Azerbaijani people in front of the enemy.