YEREVAN. – Eleven years have passed since the brutal killing of Armenian military officer Gurgen Margaryan.  

Ramil Safarov, a then-lieutenant in the Azerbaijani military, was extradited on August 31, 2012 from Hungary, where he was serving a life sentence—and with no expression of either regret or remorse—for the premeditated axe murder of Armenian lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan, in his sleep, during a NATO Partnership for Peace program in Budapest on February 19, 2004. Safarov had planned on killing the other Armenian military serviceman, who likewise was attending the aforesaid program, but he was unable to carry out this plan.

Ramil Safarov’s return to the Azerbaijani capital city of Baku was welcomed, as was his act of murder, by the officials of President Ilham Aliyev’s government and much of Azerbaijani society, and the Azerbaijani president immediately granted him a pardon, he was declared a national hero, promoted to a higher military rank, and was allocated housing and pension.

In response to this development, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan announced on August 31, 2012 that Armenia is suspending its diplomatic ties with Hungary. Also, Sargsyan instructed the Ministry of Justice to take all measures to petition to the international judicial tribunals, and with respect to the Safarov case.   

Ramil Safarov’s pardoning was condemned by virtually all international organizations.   

In February 2013, the Armenian party petitioned to the European Court of Human Rights, in connection with the Ramil Safarov case. The complaint was with respect to Articles 2 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights.