Armenian Officer Gurgen Margaryan was murdered in Hungary on this day twelve years ago.

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.

The Governments of Azerbaijan and Hungary have been asked by the European Court of Human Rights to respond formally to a case brought by the relatives of Armenian army officer Gurgen Margaryan.