Ramil Sahib Safarov, an Azerbaijani national imprisoned in Hungary since 19 February 2004, sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Gurgen Margaryan, an Armenian national, has requested - pursuant to the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons - his transfer to Azerbaijan in order to serve his sentence in Azerbaijan. (Communication of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary)

Both Azerbaijan and Hungary are parties to the Convention, which was promulgated by Act No. of 1994 by the Hungarian Parliament.

Under the Convention, a person sentenced in the territory of a Party may be transferred to the territory of another Party, in accordance with the provisions of the Convention, in order to serve the sentence imposed on him. To that end, such a person may express his interest to the sentencing State or to the administering State in being transferred under the Convention. The competent authorities of the administering State shall continue the enforcement of the sentence or convert the sentence, through a judicial or administrative procedure, into a decision of that State. In case of continued enforcement the administering State shall be bound by the legal nature and duration of the sentence as determined by the sentencing State.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan, under the Criminal Code of Azerbaijan the act for which the sentence was imposed constitutes a criminal offence that may be punished by life imprisonment.

Persons sentenced to life imprisonment may, at the earliest, be conditionally released after serving a period of twenty-five years.

The Ministry of Justice of Azerbaijan has further informed the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary that Ramil Sahib Safarov’s sentence will not be converted but will immediately be continued to be enforced, according to the Hungarian judgment.

Since the conditions specified in the Convention for the transfer of sentenced persons have been met in Ramil Sahib Safarov’s case, his transfer has been authorized by the Minister of Public Administration and Justice and Ramil Sahib Safarov has today been transferred to Azerbaijan.

Under the Convention, the enforcement of the sentence shall be governed by the law of the administering State and that State alone shall be competent to take all appropriate decisions. In 2010 eleven sentenced persons, in 2011 seven sentenced persons while in 2012 eight sentenced persons were and have been transferred abroad from Hungary under the Convention,. Hungary does act and is, in Ramil Sahib Safarov’s case as well, acting in compliance with the rules of international law.

(Communication of the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice of Hungary)