Hungary’s Foreign Ministry told the ambassador of Azerbaijan in Budapest on Sunday that the actions that followed the transferral home of life-sentenced Azerbaijani Ramil Sahib Safarov are unacceptable to Hungary, the foreign affairs state secretary at the prime minister’s office told Hunagrian News Agency MTI.

Peter Szijjarto reiterated that Hungary had acted in compliance with the European Council’s convention on the transfer of sentenced persons.
The legal representative of Safarov, convicted for murdering Armenian fellow-soldier Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in 2004, has requested from Hungary’s justice ministry that he should be allowed to serve the remaining part of his prison sentence in his home country, Szijjarto said. After the Hungarian Justice Ministry had contacted the Azerbaijani authorities, they informed the ministry that the crime that Safarov was convicted for would also qualify as a criminal act in Azerbaijan and the punishment could be a life sentence. The authorities also informed the ministry that Safarov would continue to serve his sentence in Azerbaijan if he is transferred home, Szijjarto said.

Since Azerbaijan has failed to act in line with the official document sent to Hungary, the Hungarian Foreign Ministry told the ambassador of Azerbaijan that this course of action had been unacceptable for Hungary.

On returning to Azerbaijan on Friday, Safarov requested and got a pardon from his country’s president. Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said in Yerevan later in the day that Armenia had decided to break diplomatic ties with Hungary.