Ramil Safarov

Background

Ramil Safarov was a lieutenant in the Azerbaijani Army. He was born in 1977 in the town of Jabrayil.

Armenian citizen Gurgen Markaryan was 26 years old and was a fellow participant at an English language training course within the framework of the NATO-sponsored “Partnership for Peace” program held in Budapest, Hungary. Safarov and Markaryan were both participants of the program.

Other named participants included Hayk Makuchyan, Kuti Balash, a classmate from Uzbekistan, and Lithuanian, Serbian, and Ukrainian roommates on the same floor of the dormitory.

The offence

The murder occurred at 5 o'clock in the morning while the victim was asleep.

Safarov hacked Gurgen Markaryan to death with an axe and a knife. Gurgen Markaryan was found with knife wounds on his chest and his head was practically severed from his body.

Kuti Balash remembered that on the evening before the murder he watched a football match between Armenia and Hungary, while Gurgen Markaryan was sitting at the desk preparing his homework and “He just came back from the gym”.

On the morning of the murder, Balash heard muffled sounds, turned his head away from the wall, and saw “the Azerbaijani officer standing by Gurgen’s bed, with a long axe in his hands.” Balash then saw that Safarov “stabbed Gurgen a couple of more times and left.” Balash said he shouted at the Azerbaijani officer “to stop it,” and Balash reported: “He said that had no problems with me and would not touch me, stabbed Gurgen a couple of more times and left.” Balash described the expression of Safarov’s face as: “The expression of his face was as if he was glad he had finished something important.”

Balash reported that after seeing what had happened, he ran out “to find help, and Ramil went in another direction”.

The narrative described that immediately after murdering Lieutenant Markaryan, Safarov went to the room of another Armenian officer, Hayk Makuchyan, with an intention to kill him as well. The account stated that, while the conversation with the press secretary of Hungarian police raised the question of conflicts between Margaryan and Safarov, there was nothing said about conflicts between Armenian and Azerbaijani officers during questioning of students living on that floor of the dormitory. It also stated that on the first days of the courses the Armenians greeted their Azerbaijani colleagues “ex comitate” but received no reply, and that “Everyone knew there were no contacts between them.”

Investigation

The murder was described as having been conducted “with unusual cruelty.”

Budapest Police Maj. Valter Fulop told reporters that “Safarov committed murder with unusual cruelty.” Fulop also stated: “The victim's head was practically severed from his body.”

Police said a political motive for the murder was among the possibilities being considered and that they were also looking into how the suspect obtained the weapons of murder.

The investigation included questioning all students living on that floor of the dormitory, and the narrative stated that nothing was said about conflicts between Armenian and Azerbaijani officers.

Hayk Makuchyan stated that six days before the murder the whole group of the officers at the English Language course was taken to the excursion to Lake Balaton, and that none of the Azerbaijani officers was present. It later became known that on that day “the axe was bought in one of Budapest stores.”

Arrest

Safarov was arrested by Hungarian police for the murder of Armenian fellow participant Lieutenant Gurgen Markaryan while he was sleeping.

While being detained by the Hungarian police, Safarov confessed he had committed a murder.

The narrative reported that he promised to kill another Armenian as soon as he was set free.

Trial

A lower court (Metropolitan Court of Budapest; in Hungarian: Fővárosi Bíróság) sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment on charges of premeditated murder with extreme cruelty.

Sentencing

Safarov was sentenced to life imprisonment on April 13, 2006.

Outcome

Safarov’s sentence was life imprisonment in Hungary.

Other details

Kuti Balash described the evening before the murder and stated: “Me and Gurgen were sharing a room at the dormitory.” Balash also said: “The evening before the murder I was watching a football match between Armenia and Hungary, while Gurgen was sitting at the desk preparing his homework. He just came back from the gym”.

Kuti Balash stated: “By that time I understood that something terrible had happened for there was blood all around.” He also reported: “I started to shout at the Azerbaijani urging him to stop it.”

Balash said Safarov left after stabbing and that Safarov “went in another direction.”

Hayk Makuchyan described the relationship between the Armenian participants and the Azerbaijani officers, stating: “Neither Gurgen nor him had had any contacts with any of the Azerbaijani officers.” Makuchyan said: “They were not of a communicative type. Usually, after classes, they went straight to their rooms.”

The narrative described how a classmate from Uzbekistan tried to calm Safarov down but did not manage to stop him. It also stated that everyone confessed they were frightened to approach Safarov with the blood-stained axe closer than at three meters.

When approaching Makuchyan’s room, the narrative reported that Safarov tried to open it by shaking its handle. It stated: “As Makuchyan confessed, he usually had a habit of locking doors, unlike Gurgen, but that night he forgot to do it, and the door was locked by his Lithuanian roommate.”

It reported that Safarov could not open the door and started to shout out Makuchyan's name in a threatening voice. The narrative then reported that half asleep Hayk went towards the door to open it, but Makuchyan’s Lithuanian roommate managed to save him “for the second time.” The Lithuanian roommate stopped Hayk from opening the door because “he thought that there was a real threat in Safarov's voice and that he might be armed.”

The narrative also described that Safarov went to look for Hayk 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.”

The narrative reported that Safarov was told afterwards to have run to the room of another Azerbaijani officer, told him something in Azerbaijani, and then “ran and stabbed the door of Makuchyan’s room three times with an axe.”

It stated that by that time the second Lithuanian and the police approached.

The narrative said the account “testifies that the murder had been planned in advance” and also stated: “It was not a crime of a personal motivations between Gurgen and Ramil.” It further stated that Safarov’s “revenge was not against anyone particular, but against the whole Armenian nation.”