On April 13, 2006, a Hungarian court sentenced Safarov to life imprisonment without right of appeal for 30 years. The judge, András Vaskuti, cited the premeditated nature and brutality of the crime and the fact that Safarov showed no remorse for his deeds as the reasons for the sentence. Handing down a life sentence, the judge particularly emphasised that “the murder of a sleeping man in peace time is always a crime and cannot be an act of heroism”. On February 22, 2007, a Hungarian appeal court upheld the ruling following an appeal filed by Safarov's lawyer.