ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan left a note on his Twitter page on the anniversary of the death of an Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, who was killed by an Azerbaijani soldier Ramil Safarov in Budapest.
In particular, the prime minister noted: "Today we pay tribute to the memory of the Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, who was the victim of a policy of hatred, racism, and anti-Armenian politics. We express our solidarity to the relatives and friends of Margaryan. I want to note that the killing of the Armenian officer, as well as pardon and the glorification of the person who killed him is a prime example of the promotion of impunity for heinous crimes. All this is a violation of human rights. We must prevent further incidents of such crimes motivated by xenophobia. "
It should be noted that on February 19, 2004 the lieutenant of the Armenian army Gurgen Margaryan, who was sent to Budapest for English courses within the framework of the NATO Partnership for Peace program, in a dormant state, was brutally slaughtered with an ax by an Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, a participant in the same courses. On April 13, 2006, the Budapest trial court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment without the right to pardon for 30 years.
On August 31, 2012, Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov, sentenced to life in prison in Hungary, was extradited to his homeland. On the same day, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on his pardon. The Ministry of Defense of Azerbaijan paid the killer a salary accumulated over the entire time that he was in custody (more than eight years), provided him with an apartment, and also awarded him the rank of major. In connection with the extradition of Safarov, Armenia suspended diplomatic relations and all official ties with Hungary.