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Ramil Safarov
Born	Ramil Sahib oğlu Səfərov (1977-08-25) August 25, 1977 (age 47) Jabrayil, Azerbaijani SSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Major in Azerbaijani Army
Criminal status	Extradited to Azerbaijan, pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev

Motive	Ethnic hatred
Criminal charge	Murder

Ramil Sahib oglu Safarov (Template:Lang-az; born August 25, 1977) is Azerbaijani serviceman.

Early life

Ramil Safarov was born on August 25, 1977 in the town of Jabrayil, Soviet Union (now Azerbaijan) where he finished middle school. He is one of four brothers. Jabrayil was captured by Armenian forces on August 26, 1993, and remains under Armenian control as part of the unresolved Armenia–Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh. Safarov's family fled to Baku in 1991. During a court hearing, Safarov recounted memories from the years of war, during which he had lost family members. This, however, contradicted another version he told the court, where he stated that he was studying in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku and in Turkey from 1992 to 1996. He continued his studies at Maltepe Military High School in İzmir and then at the Turkish Military Academy, graduating in 2000, after which he returned to Azerbaijan.

Budapest murder and trial

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In January 2004, Hungary hosted NATO's Partnership for Peace program, where military personnel from different countries, including Armenia and Azerbaijan, were invited to participate in English language courses. Gurgen Margaryan, Hayk Makuchyan and Safarov were each participants in this program. Margaryan was a 26-year-old engineer and a lieutenant in the Armenian Army.

At 7:00 pm on February 18, Safarov bought an axe near Tesco at Ferenc Puskás Stadium. On the night of February 19, 2004, Safarov took the axe and went to Margaryan's room, which he was sharing with his Hungarian roommate, Balázs Kuti. He then proceeded to hack Margaryan with the axe, while he was sleeping. The noises woke up Kuti, who cried for him to stop. According to Kuti, Safarov appeared "happy, as if he finished an important work. I was shocked, I ran out to call anybody, Ramil went away."

Afterward, Safarov headed for the room of Makuchyan, the other Armenian program participant, with the intention of also attacking him when in the corridor he met an Uzbek officer and tried to convince him to join him in the killing. The Uzbek officer tried to calm Safarov down but was unable to do so. Safarov arrived at Makuchyan’s room but found the door locked. He shouted out Makuchyan’s name. The half sleeping Makuchyan wanted to open the door, but his Lithuanian roommate stopped him and called his compatriot next door to check what was going on. Safarov kept running through the rooms trying to get Makuchyan when the police arrived. Kuti, Margaryan's Hungarian roommate, had run out of his room and summoned the police, who promptly arrived at the scene and arrested Safarov.

During his initial interrogation Safarov confessed to killing Margaryan. He told the police he was vengeful against the entire Armenian nation. When the case went to trial Safarov's defense asserted that the murder was committed because Margaryan had insulted the Azerbaijani flag. No witnesses were ever called to corroborate this account. According to Kuti, Margaryan and Safarov, and the officers in general, had never had any overt conflict with one another.

Questioned about his motives to murder Margaryan during his initial interrogation (taken from an imperfect English translation), Safarov stated:

In addition I feel sorry that I haven’t killed any Armenian. My army sent me to this training and being here I have to face the fact that two Armenian were learning with me and I have to say that because of personal effectiveness the feeling of animosity grow up in me. In the beginning we were greeting each other, rather to say they said hi to me, but I didn’t accept it and curiosity in the whole thing was that when they walked close to me they were mumbled something in Armenian and laughed at me. That was the time when I decided that I will kill these two persons, the Armenians, I will cut their head off.
...

I’m being a soldier since 14 years now, but I cannot give an answer whether I would kill if I would be a civil person. I didn’t wondering on the question whether I would kill Armenians if I would be a civil . My job is to kill all, because until they live we will suffer.

Asked by his interrogator as to why he threw the cigarette he lit after the murder onto the victim's body, Safarov responded, "Since I hate so much and I was prepared for the revenge for so long it was a relieve for me. As long as I didn’t care about him it didn’t mean whether I threw the cigarette onto the ground, or on his bed or into his eyes."

A post mortem concluded that Safarov had delivered sixteen blows to Margaryan's face, nearly severing his head from his body. Earlier, a briefing given by the Hungarian police added that Margaryan had also been stabbed several times in the chest.

On April 13, 2006, a Hungarian court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment without possibility of a pardon until 2036. The judge, Andras Vaskuti, cited the premeditated nature and brutality of the crime and the fact that Safarov showed no remorse for his deeds as the reasons for the sentence. On February 22, 2007, a Hungarian court upheld the ruling following an appeal filed by Safarov's lawyer.

While serving his sentence, Safarov translated several novels by Hungarian authors into Azeri.

Reaction

A lawyer representing the victim's family welcomed the sentence as a "good decision for the Hungarian court and for society."

The banned radical Azerbaijan National Democrat Party awarded Safarov with the title of "Man of the Year 2005" for killing an Armenian. The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs condemned Azerbaijan's reaction to the brutal murder of the Armenian officer in a hearing. The Committee stated that "The Azerbaijani government has also consistently failed to condemn Safarov, an Azeri military officer who in 2003 brutally murdered an Armenian participant at a NATO Partnership for Peace military training exercise in Budapest, Hungary. Instead, it has encouraged domestic media and various organizations to treat the murderer as a celebrity. That individual has since been awarded the title of ‘‘Man of the Year’’ by Azerbaijan’s National-Democratic Party."

Extradition and pardon

After serving eight years of the life sentence, Safarov was extradited under the framework guidelines of the 1983 Strasbourg Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons and transferred to Azerbaijan on August 31, 2012. Although the Hungarian government stated that it had received assurances from the Azerbaijan government that the remainder of the sentence would be enforced, President Ilham Aliyev issued a pardon immediately upon Safarov's arrival in Baku and ordered that he be "freed from the term of his punishment."

After arriving in Baku, Safarov stated: "This is the restoration of justice. It was a little surprise for me." He then visited Martyrs' Lane to lay flowers at the tomb of Azerbaijan's former president Heydar Aliyev. He also laid flowers at the Eternal Flame monument and visited a monument to Turkish soldiers.

Reactions

Armenia

External videos
Protesters burn the Hungarian flag in Yerevan on YouTube

File:Ramil safarov's picture on a bus window in Yerevan, Armenian.jpg

Poster on a bus in Yerevan disgracing Safarov.

President Serzh Sargsyan announced Armenia's suspension of diplomatic relations and all official communications with Hungary on the day of Safarov's release. "This is not a simple murder. It is murder on ethnic grounds," he said.

Sargsyan suggested the possibility that Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev and Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán had entered into a secret agreement during the latter's visit to Baku on June 30, 2012. Media sources have also speculated that Hungary's deepening economic ties with Azerbaijan may have had something to do with Safarov's release. Sargsyan concluded his statements by saying, "with their joint actions, Azerbaijan and Hungary opened the door to the recurrence of such crimes."

Demonstrations took place in front of the Hungarian consulate in Yerevan, during which the building was pelted with tomatoes. Demonstrators also burned a Hungarian flag. A photo of Safarov was also burned by the activists. National Assembly Speaker Hovik Abrahamyan postponed his visit to Hungary planned for late September.

Hayk Makuchyan, whom Safarov unsuccessfuly planned to kill on the same night as Margaryan, stated that he will petition to all judicial instances and possibly The Hague, since the murder was committed on ethnic grounds, adding: "I had no doubt that Ramil Safarov would not have served his sentence in the case of an extradition. But the Azerbaijani leadership’s cynicism surpassed everything."

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev promoted Safarov to the rank of major and the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan provided him with an apartment. On September 1, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry spokesman Elman Abdullayev said that the return of Safarov to Azerbaijan is a matter of relations between Azerbaijan and Hungary, which was resolved in the "framework of the law and is not contrary to norms and principles of the international law." He described Sargsyan's statements as "hysterical" and accused him of being one of the leaders of the group that committed the Khojaly Massacre.

Novruz Mammadov, the head of the presidential foreign relations department, claimed that secret talks had been going on for a year between Azerbaijan and Hungary, and that agreement had been reached on the visit of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.

Hungary

File:Kossuth Square protest Sep 4 2012 against safarovs extradition.jpg

Protesters gathered in front of the Hungarian parliament in Kossuth Square against government's decision to extradite Safarov to Azerbaijan.

File:Sep 4 Budapest protest against safarov extradition.jpg

A Hungarian protester

On September 2 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Hungary announced the country "refuses to accept and condemns the action of Azerbaijan, which contradicts the relevant rules of international law and sharply contrasts the undertaking of the Azerbaijani side in this matter, confirmed by the Deputy Minister of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan in his letter." The Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the action of Azerbaijan in a diplomatic note. The press release also states that "Hungary regards the decision of Azerbaijan inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation based on mutual trust that has been achieved during the past years between our respective countries."

The opposition parties strongly criticized Viktor Orbán and his cabinet for the move. Representatives of MSZP, the largest opposition party, called for various subcommittees of the parliament to examine who exactly made the decision and why the procedure was kept secret. MSZP had been in power until 2010, and had refused to release Safarov.

Other countries and international organizations

United States: Both the United States National Security Council and the State Department expressed concern over the matter and reported that Azerbaijan had been asked to explain its decision.

The Azeri foreign ministry responded, "the fact that the U.S. government interferes in the relations of two independent states – Azerbaijan and Hungary – is puzzling," and suggested that the U.S. response was connected to the elections in U.S.

Russia: On September 3, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated the "Russia perceived the reports of pardon of Azerbaijani soldier Ramil Safarov with deep concern and also the preceded decision of the Hungarian authorities to extradite him to Azerbaijan." Ministry spokesmen Lukashevich also said that "We believe that these moves by Azerbaijani and earlier by Hungarian government run against the efforts of OSCE Minsk Group to lessen the tension in the region."
Sweden: Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt tweeted "Strange decision in Azerbaijan to pardon man having murdered an Armenian in Hungary. Rule of law must apply.".
European Union: EU Foreign Affairs Representative Catherine Ashton and European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy Štefan Füle announced that they are "concerned by the news that the President of Azerbaijan has pardoned Azerbaijani army officer Ramil Safarov". They called on Azerbaijan and Armenia "to exercise restraint, on the ground as well as in public statements, in order to prevent an escalation of the situation in the interest of regional stability and on-going efforts towards reconciliation".
OSCE Minsk Group: The OSCE Minsk Group (composed of negotiators from the US, Russia and France to encourage a peaceful, negotiated resolution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh) stated that Azerbaijan's pardoning of a military officer who murdered an Armenian officer has harmed attempts to establish peace between the countries.
Collective Security Treaty Organisation: Secretary-General Nikolay Bordyuzha stated that Azerbaijan's decision to pardon Safarov is against international law. He then continued, "this move was obviously done for the sake of short-term political goals and can not be justified by anything".

Non-government organizations

British expert on Caucasus Thomas de Waal called President Aliyev's move to pardon Safarov "deeply provocative". In Waal's view, "This is now a full-blown state-to-state row, with as yet unknowable consequences."

Azerbaijan

Mixed thoughts came from the Azerbaijani organizations. Zardusht Alizadeh, chair of the Open Society Institute in Azerbaijan, condemned the act of pardon, saying it would not contribute positively to the peaceful solution of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. According to Alizadeh, the act was not based on any political will, respect of law or interest in conflict resolution, but instead had only "cheap fame" to it. While the Head of the Congress of Azeri-Turkic Women Tanzila Rustamkhanli, who's known for her highly nationalist views and writer Aysel Alizadeh have justified the pardon, known journalist of Radio Liberty Azerbaijan Khadija Ismayilova have stated that what Safarov had done is "awful" and the reaction of seeing him as a "hero" "happens when society is not allowed to do anything. They are angry. People of Azerbaijan lost the war, lost the territory to occupants, became refugees, lost their siblings including civilians and they were stopped and banned from restoring justice on the battle field." on her Facebook account.

People's Writer of Azerbaijan Akram Aylisli who is also a deputy in the Azerbaijani National Assembly have refused to say anything about the "campaign", as he has his "own ideas of and approach to heroism.". Azeri media have criticized United States' concern over the situation and added that they should also have react when Varoujan Garabedian, an ASALA member have pardoned and greeted as a hero in his hometown. Famous lawyer Erkin Gadirli, despite himself concerned about the background of the pardon have stated that "in January 2003 Robert Kocharian, then the President of Armenia, delivered a speech in Moscow Diplomatic Academy. There he said exactly the following: "Armenians and Azerbaijanis are genetically incompatible". International community did not condemned his racist statement. Not only Armenian people were not ashamed, but they elected him as a President." So the whole Azerbaijani people should not be guilty if some invidual killed some other one. Meanwhile The Azerbaijani Americans for Democracy (AZAD) sent an open letter to Hillary Clinton with stating that the USA needs to condemn the human rights abuses of the president of Azerbaijan who regularly violates the rights of Azerbaijani people rather than Safarov issue.

The leading Azerbaijani Russian-language news website Day.az have called its readers to edit the Russian Wiki article about Safarov from possible "revenge of Armenian nationalists".

File:Armenian protest London Hungarian embassy.jpg

Armenians protest in front of the Hungarian embassy in London

Hungary

Péter Erdő, the Archdiocese of Esztergom and the Hungarian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, in a letter to Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, issued a statement expressing "full solidarity with the Armenian Christians and with the Armenian people that has so much suffered in the past."

A Facebook page was created on September 1, apologizing for Hungarian PM's actions. The group is called "Hey Armenia, sorry about our Prime Minister" (a poster with similar title was used in fall 2011, asking EU for forgiveness for Orbán) and has more than 10,000 likes as of September 3.

A demonstration is planned in Budapest's Kossuth Square on September 4. More than 2 thousand people have joined the event on Facebook.

Armenian diaspora

In many cities around the world where Armenian diaspora is present demonstrations took place against Hungarian and Azerbaijani government actions, including in Tbilisi and Rostov-on-Don.