On September 4 a group of Armenian students studying at the Central European University of Budapest were joined by students by other countries to send a letter to Hungray’s Prime Minister Victor Orban. The students expressed their frustration and disappointment from the decision of the Hungarian Government to extradite murderer Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan, where he was immediately pardoned and released.
In a response letter the State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations Szijjarto Peter has written that the Hungarian Government has acted in full accordance with the 1983 Strasbourg Convention.
“The transfer of convicted persons is an act of international legal nature guided by well-defined, transparent procedures. We have followed our practice, as Hungary has dealt with 70 cases of similar nature since 2010,” the State Secretary noted, adding that “the transfer is not linked to any financial transaction.”
“The decision on this issue has in no way been directed against Armenia or the Armenian people who are held in high respect by the Hungarians since the Middle Ages, when Armenian families started to settle in the territories of the Hungarian Kingdom. In the light of this, Hungary deeply regrets the decision of the President of Armenia to suspend diplomatic relations and the Hungarian Government will consistently work for the earliest possible normalization,” the letter reads.
