The Gurgen Margaryan :trial:

[Ararat]

I am beginning to think that there is something deeply different about the Turks, Azeris.They have extremely strange and strong clan mentality(residue of nomadic past), which transcends basic human decency. The shameless lying, the hatred, pathetic sewage quality rhetoric makes me believe that these people seized developing since dark ages.

The simple truth is why Armenians are hated so much is jealousy! Destroy what you don’t have-creativity, intellectuality and productivity.

All this time I tried to find one single condemnation message from Azerbaijan or Azerbaijanis (or even Turks)...

 

This means there will be no "brotherhood" in Caucasus for next 600 years

[Stormig]

As I recall, there were a couple of articles that came to my mailbox via Groong where some official body in Azerbaijan was offering condolences to the mother. Naive me, the condolences must not have been to the mother of the deceased but to the mother of the murderer for a son in trouble.

[gurgen]

They'd rather choke in donkey dung than express any form of regret.

 

Remember, they are lost hordes of Djengiz Khan

[Stormig]

I thought the expression of condolences was entirely appropriate. "Regret"? I'd regret it if I accidentally caused someone's death. But to feel ACTUAL regret because some psycho, officer or not, hacked someone in their sleep? Regret is not the word in any stretch of imagination. Remorse is probably what you are looking for (and I am open to better suggestions), and condolences express remorse, the dictionary definition of which can include "sympathetic sorrow." An Israeli could feel remorse if a misguided Israeli soldier killed a Palestinian kid and that sparked off uprising in one "peace process" in a series of many. But that is a one-on-one thing - for me there is no difference between a German cannibal eating a German or a Pakistani cannibal eating a Hindu. I can't imagine there being so much nitpicking were similar to happen between a Hutu officer and a Tutsi (assuming there was a Hutuland and a Tutsiland). One can't be expected to feel remorse for every psycho out there because the victim is from a neighbouring country they've been at war with. Edited March 4, 2004 by Stormig

[HOB]

http://www.armenianow.com/2004/march05/new...tness/index.asp

[Vigil]

ArmenPress

March 10 2004

 

MURDERER OF ARMENIAN OFFICER SENDS MESSAGE TO HIS NATION

 

BAKU, MARCH 10, ARMENPRESS: The defense ministry of Azerbaijan has

committed to pay a Hungarian attorney Peter Zala, hired by the

official Baku to defend Ramil Safarov, an Azeri officer who hacked to

death an Armenian classmate, Gurgen Margarian in Budapest on February

19.

An Azeri lawyer, Adil Ismailov, who is steering a committee,

founded in Azerbaijan to defend Safarov, told in Baku upon his return

from Hungary that Safarov was recognized guilty after a test to

identify whether he was suffering from a mental disorder, produced a

negative result. Ismailov said the defense will be based on the

assumption that "as long as the Armenian-Azeri opposition over

Karabagh remains unresolved, similar incidents are likely to happen."

He said he was assured by the authorities that "president Aliyev is

following closely the case of Safarov."

Azeri prosecutors are traveling next week to Budapest to meet with

Hungary's chief prosecutor and hand over all required documents.

According to Ismailov, the investigation into the murder will be

finished in 2 months and only then the date of the trial will be set.

He said Safarov is charged with premeditated murder, facing a prison

term from 15 years to life imprisonment, but did not rule out that

Safarov may be handed over to Azerbaijan to serve his term in his

home country. He also said the government is prepared to defend its

citizen, and added that Safarov addressed a message to his

compatriots, which will be unveiled soon. The commission in defense

of Safarov is said to have collected $25,000 to take care of all

necessary expenses.

Edited May 31, 2004 by Vigil

[gurgen]

Our boys in Hayastan are already mobilizing.

 

I would be very surprised if war didn't break out again.

[MosJan]

The Margaryan Trial: Case of murdered Armenian officer to begin in Hungary

 

By Zhanna Alexanyan

ArmeniaNow Reporter

 

Court hearings are expected to begin November 23 in Budapest in the trial of Ramil Safarov, an Azerbaijani Army officer charged in the murder of Armenian Army officer Gurgen Margaryan February 19. The two were in Hungary to attend a NATO-sponsored English training program.

 

Safarov attacked Margaryan, 26, in his sleep. A second Armenian officer, Hayk Mkuchyan escaped Safarov’s attack when alerted by his Lithuanian roommate.

 

Attorney Nazeli Vardanyan has been appointed by the Ministry of Defense to represent Makuchyan and the family of Margaryan.

 

Margaryan’s death was mourned last February

Margaryan’s death was mourned last February

The trial will be conducted in Hungarian, interpreted for the Armenian and Azeri sides. It was to have begun in June, however the Azeri side filed an appeal to have the trial moved to Azerbaijan and to have Safarov released from custody. The motions were denied.

 

It was only a week ago that Vardanyan learned that the trial was about to begin. She says she has not had proper time to prepare, especially as all documents are in Hungarian, and must be translated.

 

“We will have to translate the documents after we are there,” Vardanyan said. “In fact we are going to get acquainted with the documents of the whole criminal case, as we did not have the right to do that before the case entered the court.”

 

Preparation time aside, Vardanyan says a strategy has been developed and that she will seek a life sentence against Safarov (Hungarian law does not permit capital punishment). The Armenian lawyer’s role will be to assist Hungary’s Public Prosecutor.

 

“We need to provide materials, make motions, but the main prosecutor is Hungary’s public prosecutor. We will see in which direction the proceedings go and will prevent it from any kind of deviation from the matter”, says the lawyer without excluding that the Azerbaijani side may try to politicize the hearings.

 

“We know this is a heavy crime and has been directed against the Armenian ethnos. If Gurgen and Hayk were not Armenians the crime would not have happened,” says Vardanyan. “He must be appropriately punished independent of the political situation or other circumstances.”

 

Vardanyan says that judging from the Azerbaijani publications the Azeri side will argue for a mild sentence -- 10 to 15 years imprisonment.

 

The Azerbaijani Day.az internet newspaper reports that Safarov’s lawyer doubts the officer will get a life sentence, due to extenuating circumstances.

 

A number of Azebaijani human rights organizations are expected to appeal for international organizations to monitor the hearings. According to Azerbaijan’s “525” newspaper, human rights activist Chingiz Hamizade has said the court should investigate various reasons why Safarov committed the crime.

 

“The place where Safarov comes from is occupied by the Armenians; he has lost close people there. This should be emphasized and taken into notice in the court,” the activist said.

 

During the preliminary investigation Safarov testified that his relatives had suffered in the Karabagh war and it was revenge that made him murder Margaryan.

 

“He has insisted he has lost relatives and a beloved girl, but he has not substantiated his words. He has not named anybody and that is not an extenuating circumstance,” Vardanyan argues. “If we follow that logic, any Armenian may commit a crime. His crime is a heavy one and he has to be punished.”

[hytga]

if need be they will "create" documents of dead relatives and a girl

[MosJan]

Azeri Officer Admits Killing Armenian With Ax

 

(Reuters)--An Azeri officer who killed his fellow Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian with an ax at a Budapest military academy pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday, saying he took revenge for Armenian attacks on Azeris, Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

 

"It was not my plan to be so cruel, savage," 27-year-old Ramil Safarov told the court. When asked why he almost severed the head of the victim, he said, "because they did the same to 8,000 people of ours."

 

In February, Safarov entered the Armenian's room, stabbed him several times with a knife, and struck him repeatedly with an axe, almost severing his head. Both were participating in a NATO Partnership for Peace English language course.

 

Safarov was charged with committing premeditated murder with extreme cruelty, and faces possible life imprisonment if found guilty, a Budapest Capital Court press official told Reuters.

[MosJan]

AZERI OFFICER SAFAROV STANDING TRAIL

 

24.11.2004 15:29

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The accusers of Azeri officer Ramil Safarov, whose trial began in Budapest on November 23, produced the murder instrument - the axe. To remind, February 19, 2004 Ramil Safarov, who attended NATO English courses, brutally killed Armenian officer Gurgen Margarian while the latter was asleep. Safarov also attempted the life of another Armenian serviceman, G. Mukuchian, who witnessed at yesterday's sitting of the court. Armenian Ambassador to Hungary J. Tabibian as well as a representative of the Armenian Office of Public Prosecutor were present at the sitting. Yesterday Ramil Safarov denied a part of his preliminary testimony alleging bad knowledge of the Russian language. The murderer is accused due to an article providing for 10-15 years of imprisonment

[MosJan]

es kartses te et shner@ datavarutyun@ Tehlelyani datavarutyan yerang en uzzum tal

[Dave]

http://www.deepikaglobal.com/latestnews.asp?ncode=22629

 

Azeri officer admits killing Armenian with axe-MTI

 

 

BUDAPEST, Nov 24 (Reuters) An Azeri officer who killed an Armenian with an axe at a Budapest military academy pleaded guilty in court, saying he took revenge for Armenian attacks on Azeris, Hungarian news agency MTI reported.

 

Former Soviet republics Armenia and Azerbaijan declared an uneasy ceasefire after going to war in 1988, part of a long and bitter territorial dispute.

 

''It was not my plan to be so cruel, savage,'' 27-year-old Ramil Safrov Sahib told the court yesterday.

 

When asked why he almost severed the head of the victim he said ''because they did the same to 8,000 people of ours''.

 

In February, Sahib entered the Armenian's room, stabbed him several times with a knife and struck him repeatedly with an axe, almost severing his head.

 

The pair were on an English language course run under the auspices of NATO's Partnership for Peace.

 

Sahib was charged with committing premeditated murder with extreme cruelty, and faces possible life imprisonment if found guilty, a Budapest Capital Court press official told Reuters.

[MosJan]

GURGEN MARGARYAN IS A GENOCIDE VICTIM

 

The trial of the Azeri officer having axed the Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan started yesterday in Budapest and was postponed till February 5, 2005.

 

Today more than 5.000 students and schoolchildren have held a protest action on the initiative of “Gurgen Margaryan” charitable social organization in Yerevan, which ended in a march in Tsitsernakaberd.

 

”Beginning from 5:00 AM of February 19, 2004 to this very day the world is unaware of what happened in Budapest. It wasn’t an ordinary murder. It is represented as if a Turk has killed an Armenian. Azerbaijanis affirm that during the war Armenians killed the parents and relatives of Ramil Safarov, so he couldn’t live calmly. In fact, those statements pursue another object. Azerbaijan once again tries to distort the historical events and facts”, publicist Zori Balayan said while making a speech.

 

According to the Armenian official sources, Safarov’s parents haven’t been from Jabrayil, as Azerbaijanis assert. Soon Zori Balayan will publish Safarov’s preliminary testimony, which had later been changed.

 

Writer Grigor Janikyan drew participants’ attention to the statement made by an Azeri MP who had said: “Ramil Safarov must be protected at a state level. He will return to the homeland in a year and will head military operations to obliterate thousands of Armenians. Armenians in Artsax must be annihilated”.

 

The organizers of the action as well informed that in the beginning of the trial 100.000 Azerbaijanis – the participants of the signature collecting - had demanded Budapest Court to release Safarov. The participants of the meeting in Yerevan announced that Gurgen Margaryan was the victim of Genocide and demanded a due punishment for the criminal.

[hytga]

his parents aren't dead.

 

Lt. Safarov’s parents, who are settled in a student dormitory in Baku’s Binaqadi District after they were forced by the Armenian army to leave their house in Jabrail in 1993, said their son cannot be a murderer.

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=8083

[Arpa]

his parents aren't dead.

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=8083

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

If those rabid dogs would get the hell out of Armenian lands and go back to wherever the hell they came from then we would not bother them. As long as they claim our lands they will have to do with the "azi", the "rabid Armenian dog". "azi" in their own disgusting Turkish language means "rabid/katghats".

[Harut]

his parents aren't dead.

http://www.bakutoday.net/view.php?d=8083

style_images/master/snapback.png

 

i don't think they ever cliemed otherwise

[MosJan]

From Sumgait to Budapest: Slain Armenian officer remembered as a genocide victim

 

By Suren Musayelyan

ArmenianNow Reporter

 

“Impunity Begets New Victims: Sumgait - Hungary ”, “We Remember and Condemn”, “Azerbaijan is a Threat to Peace and Stability”, “No to Terrorism,” “No to Genocide”.

 

These and other similar banners condemning Azerbaijan were carried by participants of a peaceful march remembering the Armenian officer brutally murdered by an Azeri in Hungary earlier this year.

 

Hundreds of young people marched from downtown Yerevan to the Genocide Memorial in Tsitsernakaberd on Wednesday demanding a fair verdict from the Budapest court and condemning the anti-Armenian atmosphere in Baku surrounding the trial.

 

“Remembering and Condemning”

“Remembering and Condemning”

University and high school students expressed their position that what happened to Gurgen Margaryan in Hungary on February 19, 2004 was nothing less than genocide.

 

“Genocide is decided by the nature of crime and not by the number of people killed. In this case, our compatriot was as innocent as the victims of the 1915 genocide,” said one student participating in the march.

 

Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan was hacked to death in his sleep by an Azeri officer while attending a NATO-sponsored English-language course in the Hungarian capital.

 

Ramil Safarov, 27, also had in view to attack another Armenian officer attending the same course who luckily escaped the same fate after being alerted by his roommate.

 

The Azeri officer was charged with premeditated murder by Hungarian police. His trial started Tuesday in Budapest. Safarov, who said he acted out of revenge, is facing from 15 years up to life imprisonment.

 

The participants of the action organized by the “Gurgen Margaryan” public organization held a public rally at Tsitsernakaberd where intellectuals of the country made speeches condemning the crime against the Armenian officer and the entire Armenian nation.

 

The head of the Ajapnyak community of Yerevan, where Margaryan lived, was also present at the public gathering.

 

Artsrun Khachatryan said he knew Margaryan not only as the head of the community, but also as his neighbor.

 

“He was a very clever and modest person, a patriotic and a very dedicated army officer. What happened to him shows that a Artsaxi can never live side by side with an Azeri, because they are genocide perpetrators, they kill sleeping, unarmed people,” he said.

 

Addressing the young participants of the rally, Chairman of the Union of Writers of Armenia Levon Ananyan said: “We must be resolute and united in our position and get our message across to Europe. Azerbaijan continues to do what it has done for 90 years and now it is you, the youths, who should prevent similar things from happening again.”

 

Well-known writer and publicist Zori Balayan said addressing the participants: “The world is still unaware of what happened in Budapest. It wasn’t an ordinary murder.”

 

Balayan thinks it will take a long time for the two peoples to learn to live together.

 

“They killed a sleeping man with an axe. This is not a matter of one person only. It proves that an Armenian cannot, for at least another hundred years, live side by side with a Turk,” he said.

 

Balayan sees Margaryan’s murder as a consequence of the impunity that was common in the past.

 

“No one was punished for what happened in 1915 and history repeated itself in Sumgait in 1988. And the murder of the innocent Armenian in 2004 only because of his nationality is a consequence of this impunity,” he said.

 

It was declared at the end of the public rally that Gurgen Margaryan is a victim of genocide and that his murderer should be punished accordingly.

 

The “Gurgen Margaryan” public organization plans to send the videotape showing the march and the rally at Tsitsernakaberd as well as all the banners in Armenian and English to Budapest.

[MosJan]

The Margaryan Trial: Assailant now says murder was not premeditated

 

By Zhanna Alexanyan

ArmeniaNow Reporter

 

A court in Budapest has recessed in the trial of Ramil Safarov, the Azeri Army officer charged with killing Armenian Army Lieutenant Gurgen Margaryan while the two attended a conference in Hungary in February.

 

At a press conference in Yerevan Tuesday, lawyers representing Margaryan’s family and officer Hayk Makuchyan whom Safarov also attacked, said their participation in the trial has been limited. The attorneys, appointed to the case by the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, are not allowed to question Safarov because they are not licensed to practice in Hungary.

 

The trial, the attorneys said, is being held in a large hall and has been attended by Hungarian media, members of the Armenian-Hungarian community and representatives of the embassies of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey.

 

Attorneys from Armenia are assisting in the Budapest trial

Attorneys from Armenia are assisting in the Budapest trial

Nezeli Vardanyan is the lead Armenian attorney, assisting two Hungarian attorneys who are appointed to the case by their government.

 

The indictment of Safarov is for murder with extreme cruelty (Margaryan was stabbed to death in his sleep) and carries a sentence of up life in prison.

 

Safarov has admitted murdering Margaryan, but now recants testimony he gave in preliminary investigation that the killing was premeditated revenge for the losses his (Safarov’s) family suffered in the Artsax war. He has told the court that he now feels remorse for the crime.

 

The Armenian attorneys say the court has sufficient evidence to prove premeditation, based on testimony from Makuchyan, and from entering into evidence a 65-centimeter axe Safarov used to stab Maragaryan 16 times. A videotape of the crime scene was also shown to the court, showing bloodstains and damage to the door of the bedroom Safarov broke into.

 

Makuchyan testified that he was awakened about dawn hearing the Azeri officer shouting, in Russian, “Armenians, come out and let us butcher you”. Safarov testified that he did not intend to kill Makuchyan, who was alerted to the attack by his Lithuanian roommate.

 

The Hungarian officer testified that Safarov was stabbing Margaryan even after he’d already killed him.

 

According to the Safarov’s defenders the murder was a result of the emotional trauma Safarov suffers from cruelties he witnessed at the hands of Armenians in the Azeri towns of Khojalu and Jebrail.

 

“He said he had eye witnessed how Armenians butchered and raped Azeris,” Vardanyan said, “although there were contradictions in his facts.”

 

Safarov’s Hungarian attorneys are also claiming that the Armenian officers were insulting the Azeris prior to the killing, although witnesses have denied those claims.

 

According to court medical evaluation, though Safarov graduated from military colleges and academy “his mental development is on the secondary school level”.

 

The trial is expected to resume February 8.

[HOB]

Armenian citizen Gurgen Margaryan, 26 years old, was hacked to death while asleep by Ramil Safarov, a Lieutenant of the Azerbaijani Army.

 

The trial of Ramil Safarov is to be resumed on February 8th, 2005 in Budapest Hungary.

 

Help to break the silence!

 

During almost a year since the brutal murder of Gurgen Margaryan in Budapest American and European media has consistently stayed silent about what happened in Budapest as if nothing ever happened. We were able to track only a 51-word piece from The Guardian (In brief: Murdered at peace seminar. Feb 20, 2004 p.15), a news report from nytimes.com and one more from The Moscow Times (Brutal murder stokes Artsax war passions, by Chloe Arnold. March 2, 2004).

 

The crime committed by the Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov shook the very basics of NATO's Partnership for Peace program, yet went on almost unnoticed by major news outlets. Probably it was the reluctance to loudly condemn the crime that became the reason why many Azerbaijani officials and public figures felt safe to strongly support the murderer and even worse—to make statements containing threats to Armenians worldwide. It was no wonder the murderer soon became something like a national hero in Azerbaijan.

 

Now with the trial of Ramil Safarov still going on it is important to break the wall of silence around the Budapest case.

 

Please spread the word about the Budapest case and http://budapest.sumgait.info/ on appropriate mailing lists, internet discussion boards, web sites, etc.

 

If you are a webmaster please feel free to place the following button and add a link to http://budapest.sumgait.info/

on your web site:

Edited February 6, 2005 by HOB

[HOB]

New additions at Gurgen Margaryan's web site:

http://budapest.sumgait.info/

 

Added the English translation of the transcription of Ramil Safarov's first interrogation. Later he rejected the evidence given by himself claming there was a miscommunication between him and the interpreter. However, the transcript provides an inside look into the mind of the Azerbaijani killer and proves that for the Armenians of Artsax there could be no "happy everafter" with neighbors like those. Safarov's revelations clearly show the traces of hate that is injected by official propaganda into Azerbaijanis on daily basis.

 

http://budapest.sumgait.info/safarov-interrogation.htm

 

Also available an account by a Hungarian eye-witness, Gurgen Margaryan's roommate:

 

http://budapest.sumgait.info/kuti-balazs-account.htm

 

If you find it appropriate, please forward these information to your non-Armenian friends, especially from media (any media).

 

Help break the silence!

[HOB]

Online interview with Hayk Demoyan – representative of Ministry of Defense (Republic of Armenia) regarding Budapest trial (in Russian):

 

http://www.openarmenia.com/index.php?showtopic=2355&st=0

[Armen]

Thanks HOB. Are you going to add the previous media coverage?

[groul]

Thanks HOB. Are you going to add the previous media coverage?

 

There wasn't much media coverage, actually, that's why we started the site.

 

And probably there are some copyright issues too. Anyway, we are working on adding the English translation of the second Armenian officer's interview to one of the Armenian newspapers (we have an official permission for that).

[HOB]

New updates on site

 

http://budapest.sumgait.info/margaryan-photo.htm

 

=====

 

According to an article titled "Azerbaijani officer with an axe is of epileptic, fanatical type" (http://index.hu/politika/bulvar/szafarov0208/ ) published in one of the largest Hungarian internet news portals, Hungarian experts described Ramil Safarov as an antisocial, disharmonic and instable person, yet not suffering from any kind of mental illness or from post traumatic syndrome.

Safarov's mind was clear when he committed the murder of Lt. Gurgen Margaryan and he was motivated by hatred and revenge. Hungarian court rejected Safarov's defense plea to include Azerbaijani experts for the next psychiatric test of the defendant, however Azerbaijani experts were allowed to be present as observers.

 

http://budapest.sumgait.info

Edited February 16, 2005 by HOB