Armenian Police refuse to attend session of CIS Interior Ministers Council in Baku and recall all its officers from Budapest

• Monday, September 3, 16:47

Armenian Police will not attend the session of the CIS Interior Ministers Council in Baku on September 6.

The statement disseminated by the Armenian Police press-service on September 3 says that the CIS interior ministries serve to fight any displays of crime, while the host country of the session promotes vicious crimes. "So, discussing counteraction to crimes is morally inadmissible in the territory of Azerbaijan," the statement says.

The Police recalled that Azerbaijan has not only achieved extradition of the murderer Ramil Safarov who killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan in Hungary, but also granted him pardon and a higher military rank.  Head of the Armenian Police transferred the powers of Chairman of the Council of Interior Ministers to the Interior Minister of Russia. For the same reason, the Police recalled 10 police officers undergoing training in Budapest with the support of the U.S. Embassy. 

"Delegation of the Armenian Police can no longer stay in the territory of a country that denied justice and made a deal with the Azerbaijani authorities. Therefore, the delegation of the Armenian Police will leave Budapest for Armenia shortly. I think that the U.S. Government will understand out step, considering that President Obama has already expressed his concern over the actions of the Hungarian and Azerbaijani authorities," says the address by Vladimir Gasparyan, Head of the Armenian Police, to U.S. Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern. 

To recall, the scandal involving Hungary, Armenia and Azerbaijan broke out on Friday following Budapest's extradition of Ramil Safarov on August 31. Azeri officer Ramil Safarov was sentenced by a Hungarian court to life in jail for killing sleeping Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan with an axe in Budapest in 2004. Both the officers were undergoing an English language course under the NATO PfP program. The same day after Safarov's extradition, Azeri President
Ilham Aliyev decreed to pardon the criminal and granted him a rank of Major.

The same say the Armenian authorities adopted a decision to suspend diplomatic relations and official contacts with Hungary. President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan made public the decision at a special meeting with the heads of diplomatic missions on Friday after the Hungarian authorities extradited Safarov.