AZERI OFFICER CONFESSES TO PREMEDITATED MURDER OF ARMENIAN CLASSMATE

ArmenPress
May 17 2004

BUDAPEST, MAY 17, ARMENPRESS: An Azerbaijani officer who hacked to
death an Armenian classmate during a NATO course has confessed to the
murder and said he planned it as revenge for a 1992 Armenian assault
of Azerbaijanis, AP reported, citing Hungarian police.

Lt. Ramil Safarov of Azerbaijan on Feb. 19 used an ax to hack Lt.
Gurgen Margarian of Armenia to death in a dormitory that was being used
by participants of a NATO Partnership for Peace English language course
in Budapest. At the time, police said the murder had been committed
with “unusual cruelty” and that Safarov had tried, unsuccessfully, to
enter the room of another Armenian with the intention of killing him.

A police statement released late last week said Safarov had confessed
to committing the murder and claimed that the long-standing conflict
between Azerbaijan and Armenia was at the root of his act. “There was
no concrete grievance between the killer and the victim before the
(murder),” the Budapest police said.

Safarov initially had planned to kill an Armenian on Feb. 26 – the
anniversary of a 1992 Armenian assault in the Nagorno-Karabagh – even
before coming to Hungary for the NATO course, police said. He told
police he later decided to commit the crime ahead of the anniversary
date because “the presence of the Armenians was getting on my nerves.”

Police investigators have recommended that the Budapest Attorney
General’s office charge Safarov with premeditated murder carried out
with unusual cruelty and with vile motives and aims. The NATO program
attended by the two men is aimed at increasing cooperation between
neutral and former Soviet bloc nations and NATO in peacekeeping and
other areas.