Ramil Safarov

Ramil Sahib oghlu Safarov (Ramil Sahib oğlu Səfərov,, born August 25, 1977) is an officer of the Azerbaijani Army who was convicted of the 2004 murder of Armenian Army Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan.

During a NATO-sponsored training seminar in Budapest, Safarov broke into Margaryan's dormitory room at night and axed Margaryan to death while he was asleep.

In Azerbaijan, Safarov has become a highly celebrated figure for his killing of an Armenian.

Ramil Safarov was born on August 25, 1977, in the Şükürbəyli village of Jabrayil District, former Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (now Azerbaijan), where he finished middle school.

He is one of four brothers.

Safarov's family fled to Baku in 1991.

During a court hearing, Safarov claimed to recount 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.

Jabrayil was occupied by Armenian forces on August 26, 1993, and remained under the control of the self-proclaimed Armenian Republic of Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) as part of the unresolved Nagorno-Karabakh conflict until October 4, 2020.

He continued his studies at Maltepe Military High School in İzmir, Turkey, and then at the Turkish Military Academy, graduating in 2000, after which he returned to Azerbaijan.

In January 2004, the 26-year-old Ramil Safarov, along with another officer from Azerbaijan, went to Budapest, Hungary, to participate in the three-month English language courses, organized by NATO's Partnership for Peace program for military personnel from different countries.

Two Armenian officers, a 25-year-old Gurgen Margaryan and Hayk Makuchyan, also participated in this program.

On the evening of February 18, Safarov bought an axe and a honing stone at Tesco, near Ferenc Puskás Stadium.

He took them in the bag to his dormitory room at the Zrínyi Miklós National Defence University, where all the course participants were staying.

Safarov's roommate had returned to his native Ukraine to attend the funerals of his relatives and so nobody interrupted Safarov as he sharpened the axe in his room.

At around 5:00 am on February 19, Safarov took the axe and went to Margaryan's room, which he was sharing with his Hungarian roommate, Balázs Kuti.

The door of their room was not locked.

Safarov attacked the sleeping Margaryan with the axe and delivered 16 blows to his body, which almost severed Margaryan’s head.

The noises woke up Kuti, who was shocked seeing the Azerbaijani officer standing by Gurgen’s bed with a long axe in his hands.

As Kuti later testified, "By that time I understood that something terrible had happened for there was blood all around. I started to shout at the Azerbaijani urging him to stop it. He said that he had no problems with me and would not touch me, stabbed Gurgen a couple of more times and left. The expression of his face was as if he was glad he had finished something important. Greatly shocked, I ran out of the room to find help, and Ramil went in another direction".

Afterwards, Safarov headed for the room of Makuchyan, the other Armenian student, with the intention of attacking him also, but found his door locked.

He shouted out Makuchyan’s name in a threatening voice.

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.

Meanwhile, Safarov went to look for Makuchyan in the room of the Serbian and the Ukrainian roommates, showing them the blood-stained axe and stating that he thirsted for nobody's blood but Armenian.

Later the eyewitnesses confessed that they were afraid to approach Ramil with a blood-stained axe closer than three meters.

Soon after, the Hungarian police, which was summoned by Balázs Kuti, arrived and arrested Safarov at the scene.

A Hungarian court later found that it was an attempt on Makuchyan’s life and recognized the latter also as a victim.

While announcing the verdict the judge particularly emphasized that if Safarov had not been restrained by his fellow officers he would have killed the second Armenian officer as well.

During his initial interrogation Safarov confessed to killing Margaryan and his intention to kill Makuchyan.

Questioned about his motives during the interrogation, Safarov stated:

"I regret that I hadn't killed any Armenian before this. The army sent me to this training and here I learnt that two Armenians were taking the same course with us. I must say that hatred against Armenians grew inside me. In the beginning we were greeting each other, or rather they said 'hi' to me but I didn't respond. The reason why I committed the murder was that they passed by and smiled in our face. At that moment I decided to kill them, i.e. to saw their heads off...

I have been a soldier for 14 years now, but I cannot give an answer whether I would kill if I were a civil person.

I haven't thought on the question whether I would kill Armenians if I were civil [sic].

My job is to kill all, because until they live we will suffer.

In 2006, Safarov was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment in Hungary with a 30-year minimum.

After his request under the Strasbourg Convention, 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.

According to Azerbaijani authorities, Safarov was pardoned in compliance with the Constitution.

Following Safarov's pardon, Armenia severed diplomatic relations with Hungary and immediate protests broke out in Yerevan.

The extradition was widely condemned by international organizations and governments of many countries, including the US, Russia and France.

In a 2017 investigation into the Azerbaijani laundromat money-laundering scheme, it was uncovered and revealed that several bank transfers in 2012, totalling more than USD $9 million, made to the Hungarian MKB Bank account in Budapest right around the time when the Hungarian government extradited Safarov to Azerbaijan.