Azeri Officer Given Life Sentence For Brutal Killing Of Armenian

AFP, Associated Press
April 13, 2006

An Azerbaijani military officer who hacked to death an Armenian lieutenant
while attending a NATO-sponsored training course in Budapest was convicted
of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday.

Judge Andras Vaskuti of the Budapest district court ruled that Ramil
Safarov, now 29 and an Azerbaijani army lieutenant, killed Armenian
Lieutenant Gurgen Markarian, 26, in “premeditated, malicious and an
unusually cruel” way by nearly decapitating him with axe in February 2004
while the victim slept in a dormitory used by participants in a NATO
Partnership for Peace English language course.

Safarov was also found guilty of planning the murder of another Armenian,
which he did not carry out. He will be eligible for parole in 30 years,
according to the ruling.

“Compassion and remorse were completely missing from (Safarov’s) testimony,”
Judge Vaskuti said upon announcing the verdict. “During the whole case we
waited for him to be at least a bit sorry for the Armenian soldier he killed
brutally and for (Markarian’s) family.”

Safarov’s lawyer, Gyorgy Magyar, said they would immediately appeal the
verdict, adding that it was yet unclear whether his client would serve his
sentence in Hungary or be extradited to Azerbaijan.

A lawyer representing Markarian’s family said she was satisfied with the
court’s decision. “We’re happy that the court honestly evaluated all the
materials of this case and the brutal intentions … of the murderer,” said
Nazeli Vartanian. “This is a good decision for the Hungarian court and for
(Armenian) society.”

Making his final statement to the court earlier Thursday, Safarov said the
conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia was at the root of his act, and that
the Armenian officer had repeatedly provoked and ridiculed him. He said he
was unable to suppress his feelings and his wartime memories due to
Markarian’s behavior.

“My conscience was clouded as a result of the insults and humiliating and
provoking behavior, and I lost all control,” Safarov told the court. “It
would not be correct to consider it as merely a premeditated act caused by
the awakening of revenge and hate upon seeing the Armenians.” Safarov denied
trying to kill a second Armenian officer.

Armenian-backed forces drove Azerbaijan’s army out of the ethnic Armenian
enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s. A 1994 cease-fire ended the
six-year war that killed 30,000 people and left about 1 million homeless and
the enclave is now under the control of ethnic Armenians.

(AP-Photolur photo: Safarov Making his final statement to the court.)