Armenian MP says Azeri assassin will be ranked as national hero

August 31, 2012 - 18:52 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Prosperous Armenia parliamentary group member Naira Zohrabyan is confident that after a presidential pardon Armenian officer’s killer Ramil Safarov will be officially ranked as national hero of Azerbaijan.

“Azerbaijan spared no effort for Safarov’s extradition and it was quite clear that he would be set free upon arrival. I don’t doubt that the killer will soon get the rank of a national hero,” Zohrabyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

She reminded of the statement by Azerbaijan’s human rights defender Elmira Suleymanova, who said that “Safarov should be an example for patriotic youth.”

“The problem is not in Azerbaijan, where one who kills as Armenian is treated like a hero. The problem is that the Council of Europe accepted a country for which murder is a feat,” the MP said.

Gurgen Margaryan

On February 19, 2004, Lieutenant of the Armenian Armed Forces Gurgen Margaryan, 26, 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 Partnership for Peace NATO-sponsored program. In accordance with Budapest District Court sentence dated April 13, 2006, Ramil Safarov was life imprisoned for murdering the Armenian officer.

On February 22, 2007, Budapest Court rejected the Azerbaijani military officer's appeal against a life sentence. The appeal court ruled that the decision brought by Budapest District Court against 30-year-old Lieutenant Ramil Safarov, should stand.

On August 31, 2012, Hungary extradited Safarov back to Azerbaijan, where he was promptly pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev.