The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has adopted the Resolution on Ramil Safarov’s extradition that was discussed yesterday. This is what member of the Armenian delegation to the PACE Arpine Hovhannisyan posted on her Facebook page. The PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights has condemned Azerbaijan’s application of Article 12 of the European Convention on Extradition for Ramil Safarov and has viewed it as a “violation of the principle of good intentions in international relations and the rule of law”.

The Convention demands extraditing convicted foreigners to their homeland. The goal of the humanitarian act is for the perspectives of the convicts’ reintegration and restoration.

“The Azerbaijanis weren’t able to understand and accept the fact that their acts against the facts and the reality were doomed to failure, and even in this stage, they were still trying to do everything possible to stop adoption of the Resolution, presenting ridiculous arguments,” Arpine Hovhannisyan had posted on her Facebook page earlier.

In the draft of the PACE Committee’s Resolution, which was drafted on the basis of the report by UK delegate Christopher Chop, the Committee expresses concern about the fact that the Convention was applied to justify Ramil Safarov’s immediate release after he was extradited to Azerbaijan.

In the statement it’s mentioned that the Convention “is proscribed for release of convicts in the homeland”. The draft of the Resolution will be submitted to the PACE for discussion this year.

On February 19, 2004, in Budapest Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov axed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan in his sleep. The officers were participating in English language courses as part of the NATO Program.

In Hungary Ramil Safarov was sentenced to life in prison, but on August 31, 2012, Hungary extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan where the criminal was pardoned and granted the title of a hero.