REMEMBERING GURGEN MARGARYAN: 11 YEARS AFTER THE BRUTAL MURDER
13:22, 19 Feb 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan
Armenian Officer Gurgen Margaryan was murdered in Hungary on this
day eleven 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.