“Azerbaijan: crime and racism without borders”: Video-footage dedicated to 10th anniversary of Gurgen Margaryan’s killing
Today, on February 19, is the 11th anniversary of the day when during the NATO trainings held in Budapest, Hungary, Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan was murdered. The criminal, officer of Azerbaijani Armed Forces Ramil Safarov, who was participating in the same courses, axed sleeping Margaryan 16 times at night by an ax bought beforehand. On April 13, 2006 the Hungarian court sentenced the murderer to life imprisonment without a clemency petition right to be received during the first 30 years.
To the 10th anniversary of Gurgen Margaryan’s murder in the frameworks of "Ordinary Genocide" project a video-footages has been prepared called "Azerbaijan: Racism has no borders." The footage is in English and Russian. It concisely presents the history of murder which had shocked the world, as well as the subsequent transfer and glorification of Safarov in Azerbaijan.
The "Ordinary Genocide" project is being implemented by the Information and Public Relations Center under the RA President’s administration.
The news about the extradition of Ramil Safarov to his homeland and pardon by the Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev broke out on August 31, in 2012. 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.