The military rank of Ramil Safarov, the Azerbaijani serviceman who killed a sleeping Armenian officer, Gurgen Margaryan, during the NATO Partnership for Peace exercise in Hungary in 2004, has been promoted. This was reported by Nokomment.az, citing several Azerbaijani media outlets.
Ramil Safarov, who held the rank of lieutenant colonel, has been promoted to colonel.
In 2006, the Budapest City Court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment with 30 years without parole. However, on August 31, 2012, Hungary extradited Safarov to Baku, where he was pardoned the same day by decree of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. The Azerbaijani Ministry of Defense awarded him the rank of major and provided him with housing and financial compensation.