BAKU (RFE/RL) — Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani army officer who had hacked to death an Armenian colleague in Hungary, will return to active duty military service soon, a senior Azerbaijani military official said over the weekend.
“Right now Ramil Safarov is on vacation and having a rest. He will return to service after the vacation,” Maj.-Gen. Ramiz Najafov, head of the external relations department at the Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense, told the SalamNews agency.
Najafov did not specify whether Safarov will serve and in what capacity. Citing “threats” from Armenia, the general also said that Azerbaijani authorities are taking “necessary measures” to protect him against possible assassination attempts. “Relevant structures are taking security measures with regard to Safarov,” he said.
Safarov received a hero’s welcome in Baku on August 31 following his extradition from Hungary and immediate pardoning by President
Ilham Aliyev more than eight years after he axemurdered Armenian Lt. Gurgen Markarian during a NATO training course in Budapest. He was promoted from the rank of lieutenant to major, granted a free apartment and paid eight years’ worth of back pay the following day.
Azerbaijani Defense Minister Safar Abiyev personally met with the 35-year-old and wished him future success in his military career. Safarov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment by a Hungarian court in 2006, has not been seen in public since then.
The release of the convicted killer has provoked a furious reaction from Armenia and strong international criticism. The United States, the European Union and Russia consider it a serious blow to their long-running efforts to broker a peaceful solution to the Nagorno-Karabagh conflict.
