European Parliament’s resolution on Ramil Safarov’s case distorts facts
Baku, Sept 19 (AZERTAC). The head of department on work with law enforcement bodies of Presidential Administration of the Azerbaijan Republic Fuad Alaskarov gave an interview to AZERTAC concerning the resolution of the European Parliament on Ramil Safarov's case.
-Some days ago the European Parliament has accepted a resolution concerning extradition and release of Ramil Safarov. According to this resolution, the European Parliament considers pardon of Ramil Safarov as infringement of the diplomatic assurances by the Hungarian authorities that he can be released only after serving 25 years of punishment. Thus, the resolution refers to the letter of the deputy minister of justice by means of which these assurances have been assigned to the Hungarian side. How could you comment on this charge?
-First of all, I should note that the letter mentioned in the resolution has been disseminated in the European Parliament on the eve of voting. Thus, inquiry of the Hungarian side the answer of which was the letter, has not been disseminated, that is, the answer of the Azerbaijani side has been simply taken out of context. In this connection, it is necessary to explain more in detail some requirements of the Convention on extradition of sentenced persons on which the relevant state bodies of Azerbaijan and Hungary had agreed, including the specified letter connected with these requirements.
According to the paragraph 1 of Article 9 of the Convention, the state to which the condemned person is extradited, can carry out execution of sentence by two ways: it can continue execution of the sentence which has been established by court of the foreign state, or it can change the sentence by means of legal proceedings. In other words, it can pronounce a new sentence, but taking into account the facts established by foreign court, and a kind of the punishment appointed in its sentence.
According to the paragraph 2 of Article 9, the state to which the condemned person is extradited, should inform, what of the specified procedures it intends to apply, if about it the corresponding inquiry of the state was received. In reply to such inquiry the mentioned letter was sent the European Parliament. In the inquiry, the Hungarian side asked to notify, which of the two procedures will be applied in connection with extradition of Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan. In case of application of the procedure providing change of sentence, the inquiry wanted to inform the Hungarian side on the positions of the Azerbaijani legislation concerning conditionally-early release of persons, sentenced to lifelong imprisonment. It was connected to the fact that the Hungarian court in the sentence has specified that a question of conditionally-early release of Ramil Safarov could be considered in court only after serving 30 years of punishment by him.
In the reciprocal letter, the Ministry of Justice has informed the Hungarian side on the requirement of Article 57.3 of the Criminal Code of the Azerbaijan Republic, according to which, the person sentenced to lifelong imprisonment, on decision of court can be released conditionally-ahead of schedule only after serving 25 years of punishment by him. At the same time, in the reciprocal letter it was informed that the Azerbaijani side isn't going to apply the procedure providing change of sentence.
Thus, it is obvious that the reciprocal letter of the Azerbaijani side didn't contain any “diplomatic assurance” that Ramil Safarov will be released only after serving of 25 years of punishment by him. It was a question only of explanation of norms of the national legislation, and those norms which were not provided to be applied at all in the framework of the procedure chosen by Azerbaijan.
At the same time, it is important to underline that Ramil Safarov has been released on the basis of the Order of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on pardon. Pardon and conditionally-early release are various legal mechanisms, and an interdiction imposed by the Hungarian court on conditional-early release of Ramil Safarov before serving by him of 30 years of punishment, doesn't extend at all on possibility of its pardon. I, therefore, want to reiterate that transfer and pardon of Ramil Safarov have been carried out faultlessly.
- Then, what could cause occurrence in the text of the resolution of charges on “infringement of diplomatic assurances”, despite all their inconsistency?
- One of the reasons of this is that the resolution has such distorted facts; it may be that deputies of European Parliament haven't been informed on legal and other nuances of the question. Or, the facts could be deformed for achievement of certain political goals. In either case, the similar situation, in no way does promote increase of authority of the European Parliament. Actually, this by means of the official document misleads the international community. Therefore, it is not surprised that a number of influential political groups of European Parliament has refused to support such document far from objectivity.
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