Yerevan/Mediamax/. Ramil Safarov, who was serving life-time imprisonment in Hungary for the brutal murder of Armenian officer Gurgen Margaryan, returned to Azerbaijan and was pardoned by President Ilham Aliyev,

Ilham Aliyev signed the decree on pardoning Ramil Safarov today, Trend agency reported.

On February 19, 2004, Ramil Safarov brutally killed 26-year-old Armenian officer, Lieutenant  Gurgen Margaryan, who was on training at the University of the National Defense of Hungary within NATO’s “Partnership for Peace” program. At 5:00 early in the morning Ramil Safarov axed Gurgen Margaryan who was asleep.

The Armenian Ministry of Defense stated that “this savage murder was a direct consequence of Azerbaijan’s policy aimed at inciting hatred towards the Armenian people.”

The Foreign Ministry condemned the “brutal act” committed by the Azeri officer and demanded to punish the offender to the full extent of the law.

The Police of Budapest stated that the murder of the Armenian officer was committed with “incredible cruelty”. The Associated Press quoted the Mayor of Hungarian Police Walter Fullop as saying: “We suspect Ramil Safarov of killing the Armenian officer with incredible cruelty. We speak about “incredible cruelty” because the head of the victim was almost separated from the body.”

A week later, on 25 February 2004, Azeri Foreign Minister Safar Abiyev said the ministry was going to take every effort to return Ramil Safarov to Azerbaijan.

“We are working in this direction and the Foreign Ministry of Azerbaijan will bring his officer home,” the Azeri FM said, adding that “Ramil Safarov will return to Baku.”

On 13 April 2006, the Budapest court sentenced Ramil Safarov to life imprisonment.

In September 2011, it became known that Ramil Safarov was translating books from Hungarian into Azerbaijani language. In particular, he translated the novel by Hungarian writer Magda Sabo “The Door” which was later published.