Event dedicated to 10th anniversary of Gurgen Margaryan’s assassination was held in Vienna
On February 23, in Vienna, at the Armenian Church of St. Hripsime an event dedicated to the 10th anniversary of Gurgen Margaryan’s assassination was organized.
According to Information and public relations department of the Armenian Foreign Ministry, father Andreas Isakhanian of Armenian Church of St. Hripsime in Vienna in the presence of the Rev. Fr. Tiran Petrosyan, Acting Pontifical Legate for Central Europe and Scandinavia held a service for the dead.
The event was attended by Armenian Ambassador to Austria Arman Kirakosyan, as well as representatives of the Armenian-Austrian public organizations.
Rev. Fr.Tyrant Petrosyan and Armenian Ambassador to Austria Arman Kirakosyan gave a speech in front of the audience. They condemned the inhuman act of the Azerbaijani criminal.
In 2004, Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan was taking part in a three-month English course of NATO “Partnership for Peace” in Budapest. Early in the morning of February 19 he was murdered. The murderer – Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov - delivered 16 blows of ax to the face of the sleeping Armenian officer. As a result, the Hungarian court found him sane and sentenced him to life imprisonment without a right of pardon for 30 years. The news about the extradition of Ramil Safarov to his homeland and pardon by the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev broke out on August 31.
The pardoned murderer Ramil Safarov was greeted as a hero in Azerbaijan; he was given an apartment and was paid an officer salary for 8 years spent in detention. Moreover, Safarov was breveted Major by the Minister of Defense of Azerbaijan, who also wished him "every success."
Because of Safarov’s extradition to Azerbaijan the president of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Hungary. Safarov’s extradition, pardon, and glorification in Azerbaijan was condemned by the US president Barack Obama, US State Department, Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Russia and France, Secretary General of Council of Europe, Secretary General of CSTO, NATO, and international human rights organizations. In addition to that, European Parliament adopted a condemning resolution on September 13, 2012.
On February 19, is the 10th anniversary of commemoration of Armenian officer’s death. To the 10th anniversary of Gurgen Margaryan’s murder in the frameworks of the "Ordinary Genocide" project a video-footage has been prepared called "Azerbaijan: Racism without borders." The video footage is in English , Russian and Hungarian. It concisely presents the history of the murder that had stunned the world, as well as the programs following the incident and Safarov’s glorification in Azerbaijan.It is significant that the authors chose Symphony number 7 ("Leningrad") by Dmitri Shostakovich known as "the invasion of the Nazis" as a soundtrack for the footage.
The "Ordinary Genocide" project is being implemented by the Information and Public Relations Center under the RA President’s administration.