President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has awarded the Azerbaijani armed forces serviceman, who beheaded Kyaram Sloyan, a conscript soldier of the NKR Defense Army.
The award ceremony took place during the visit of Ilham Aliyev and his wife Mehriban to Terter, Bardi and Aghdam regions.
Aliyev visited a military unit in Terter region, met with the servicemen and awarded gifts to the soldiers who showed courage during the Azerbaijani-initiated large-scale aggression against Karabakh on April 2-5.
To note, this is not the first case Azerbaijan is glorifying the murderers of Armenian servicemen. To recall, on 19 Feb 2004, Armenian army officer Gurgen Markarian was murdered by Azerbaijani officer Ramil Safarov who axed him to death in Budapest. Both men were attending a NATO-sponsored English- language course in Budapest. In April 2006 Safarov was found guilty of murder by the Budapest City Court, and was sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of conditional release after 30 years. The court found that Safarov had intended to kill two Armenian participants at the course. After the Court of Appeal upheld this judgment in February 2007, Safarov began serving his sentence in a Hungarian prison.
In August 2012 the Hungarian Minister of Justice approved Safarov's transfer to Azerbaijan with a view to his serving his sentence there (under the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Prisoners 1983). However, a few hours after Safarov was transferred on 31 August 2012, he was granted a pardon by the Azerbaijani President and set free. He was also promoted to major, awarded eight years' salary arrears and offered a flat.
Armenia has suspended its diplomatic relations and all official contacts with Hungary.