22 years ago on this day, at around 5:00 PM, during a regular session of the RA National Assembly, armed individuals burst into the session hall and opened fire, targeting RA National Assembly President Karen Demirchyan and Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan. On 27 October 1999, it was the question-and-answer hour between the Legislative and Executive bodies in the National Assembly.
The armed individuals were Nairi Hunanyan, Karen Hunanyan, Eduard Grigoryan, Vram Galstyan, and Derenik Bejanyan. From the fire they opened, National Assembly President Karen Demirchyan, Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, National Assembly Deputy Speakers Ruben Miroyan and Yuri Bakhshyan, Minister Leonard Petrosyan, and deputies Armenak Armenakyan, Henrik Abrahamyan and Mikayel Kotanyan were killed.
The leader of the 27 October operation was Nairi Hunanyan. Subsequently, Nairi Hunanyan gave testimony and stated that he had had terrorist plans at the state level in 1991, but due to circumstances had been unable to carry them out.
He had demanded from RA President Robert Kocharyan the opportunity to make a live television address and guarantees of a fair trial, which were not granted to him. Already on 28 October, operations were undertaken to free the hostages, and the armed individuals were arrested.
The verdict for the individuals who carried out the terrorist act was announced on 2 December 2003, by Nork-Marash District Court judge Samvel Uzunyan. Six of the perpetrators of the “27 October” operation were sentenced to life imprisonment, and one to 14 years’ imprisonment.
Despite the arrest of the armed individuals and the court verdicts issued against them, the 27 October case has still not been fully uncovered.
Of those sentenced to life imprisonment, Nairi and Karen Hunanyan, Derenik Bejanyan, and Ashot Knyazyan are alive. Vram Galstyan, according to the official version, committed suicide on 27 April 2004 in a solitary cell of the “Nubarashen” penitentiary.
Hamlet Stepanyan, sentenced to 14 years’ imprisonment in the case, died in May 2010 of a heart attack.
Of the accused in the case, Norayr Yeghiazaryan died before the verdict was announced, as a result of electrocution in his cell at the “Nubarashen” penitentiary.
Eduard Grigoryan died on 3 November 2017 at the “Erebuni” medical centre.
That murder, which stands as a shocking event in the modern history of Armenia and the Armenian people, continues to this day to remain a “heavy burden” on the shoulders of all Armenians.
With that slaughter, the leading mind and fighting spirit of today’s Armenians was decapitated, and many of the public figures of Armenia and the diaspora who were active in those days bear witness to this.
