ArmInfo. The Parliament of Hungary has rejected a bill on recognition and condemnation of the Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire.
The bill was initiated by the Green Party. The lawmakers from the ruling Fidesz Party and Jobbik Party voted against the bill.
Marton Gyongyosi, representative of Jobbik Party, said that the historical events should be studied by historians and lawyers.
To note, Armenia suspended its diplomatic relations with Hungary on 31 August 2012 after Hungarian Minister of Justice approved the transfer of Ramil Safarov (Azerbaijani officer who axed Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan to death in Budapest) to Azerbaijan with a view to serving his sentence there (under the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners 1983). Both men were attending a NATO-sponsored English-language course in Budapest. On 19 February 2004 Safarov murdered Margaryan by decapitating him with an axe. In April 2006 Safarov was found guilty of murder by the Budapest City Court, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of conditional release after 30 years. The court found that Safarov had intended to kill two Armenian participants at the course on the anniversary of the beginning of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno- Karabakh region. After the Court of Appeal upheld this judgment in February 2007, Safarov began serving his sentence in a Hungarian prison. However, a few hours after Safarov was transferred on 31 August 2012, he was granted a pardon by the Azerbaijani President and set free. He was also promoted to major, awarded eight years' salary arrears and offered a flat.