Professor Philip Leach is the lead counsel in the ECHR case of Makuchyan and Minasyan v. Hungary and Azerbaijan. He spoke to EVN Report about the May 26 Chamber judgment, which found Azerbaijan in procedural violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case involved the 2012 extradition to Azerbaijan of Ramil Safarov, who murdered Lt. Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest, Hungary in 2004. Safarov received a hero’s welcome in Baku, was granted a presidential pardon, received an apartment, was promoted to Major and received eight years worth of backpay.

Phillip Leach is a professor of Human Rights Law at Middlesex University and the director of the European Human Rights Advocacy Center.