YEREVAN (Combined Sources)–Hungary’s foreign minister Monday did not rule out extradition for the Azeri serviceman who murdered an Armenian officer, saying, however, that her country was not actively seeking such a step.
Foreign Minister Kinga Goncz, who is on an official visit to Armenia’said that if Azerbaijan were to request extradition, her government would have to look in to it.
“The trial is over and the court has already announced the verdict. If the Azeri side requests extradition, the issue will be given a thorough consideration in Hungary, since there are serious concerns that Ramil Safarov will not suffer a just punishment in Azerbaijan,” Goncz told a news conference in Yerevan.
Lieutenant of the Armenian Armed Forces Gurgen Margaryan, who was in Budapest to participate in a three-month English language course which was part of the Partnership for Peace NATO-sponsored program, was axed, while asleep, by a an Azeri participant, Lieutenant Ramil Safarov on February 19, 2004.
On April 13, 2006 the Budapest Court of First Instance sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment. The Court of Appeal upheld the verdict in February 2007.
While in Yerevan, Goncz met with President Serzh Sarkisian and Foreign Minister Eduard Nalbandian.
