Russia concerned over Azerbaijani killer’s release

(AP) — Russia on Monday expressed concerns over Azerbaijan's decision to pardon a convicted killer Hungary had sent back to Azerbaijan to serve his prison sentence.

Lt. Ramil Safarov was given a life sentence in 2006 by a Hungarian court after he confessed to killing Lt. Gurgen Markarian, an Armenian, while both were in Hungary for a 2004 NATO language course. Azerbaijan and Armenia are ex-Soviet neighbors who have been locked in a long-standing feud over the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Azerbaijan's president pardoned and freed Safarov after he was returned home on Friday, prompting Armenia to break off diplomatic ties with Hungary.

Hungarian authorities insisted that they returned the 35-year-old Safarov to Azerbaijan only after receiving assurances from the Azerbaijani Justice Ministry that Safarov's sentence, which included the possibility of parole after 25 years, would be enforced.

Russia's Foreign Ministry, an important broker in the Armenian-Azerbaijani feud, condemned Safarov's release in a statement Monday, saying that it hampers Russia and other international mediators' peace-keeping efforts.

"We believe that these actions of Azerbaijani as well as Hungarian authorities contradict internationally brokered efforts, of the OSCE's Minsk group in particular, to ease tensions in the region," the ministry said.

The White House also criticized the decision to free Safarov.

About 150 demonstrators gathered in Armenia's capital Yerevan on the weekend to set the Hungarian flag ablaze and demand an end to talks on resolving the Nagorno-Karabakh issue.

During his trial in Budapest, Safarov claimed that the conflict was at the root of his actions and that he used an ax to kill Markarian while the victim was sleeping in a dormitory room, after the Armenian repeatedly provoked and ridiculed him.