Armenian Officer Gurgen Margaryan was murdered in Hungary on this day ten years ago. On this occasion the “Azerbaijan: Crime and Racism without Borders” video-footage in Russian and English has been released as part of the “Common Genocide” project.”
The film presents the story of the brutal murder, the axe-killer’s extradition to Azerbaijan and his glorification. The Hungarian version of the video will be posted on the web in the near future. The “Common Genocide” project is being realized by the Public Relations and Information Department of the President’s Staff.
On February 19, 2004 Lieutenant of the Armenian Armed Forces Gurgen Margaryan was hacked to death, while asleep, by a fellow Azerbaijani participant, Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, in Budapest during a three-month English language course in the framework of NATO-sponsored Partnership for Peace program.
In 2006, Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary with a minimum incarceration period of 30 years. He was extradited on August 31, 2012 to Azerbaijan where he was greeted as a hero, pardoned by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev despite contrary assurances made to Hungary, promoted to the rank of major and given an apartment and over eight years of back pay.
Following Safarov’s pardon, Armenia severed diplomatic relations with Hungary.
