Armenia Commemorates Victims of October 27, 1999 National Assembly Attack

YEREVAN — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and National Assembly Speaker Alen Simonyan laid flowers today at a Yerevan memorial to mark the anniversary of the October 27, 1999, attack on the National Assembly, which killed eight officials, including then-Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan and National Assembly Speaker Karen Demirchyan. Scores were wounded when five gunmen broke into the parliament and opened fire with Kalashnikov AK-47s hidden under their coats.

The attackers, led by former ARF member Nayri Hunanyan, claimed they were carrying out a coup d’état, describing their act as “patriotic” and “necessary for the nation to regain its senses.”

Several investigative versions have been put forward, and several dozen people have been questioned in 2022 and 2023 after Armenian prosecutors resumed the investigation into the terrorist act committed in the Armenian Parliament on October 27, 1999, as stated by the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office. It noted that, based on the decisions of the body handling the proceedings, personal files of many officials have been seized, and criminal proceedings of special interest as part of the case have been carried out. During the preliminary investigation, many video and audio recordings have also been seized, and expert examinations are still underway.

The Prosecutor General’s Office emphasized that appropriate actions are being taken to clarify all the circumstances of the terrorist act and to ensure a comprehensive, complete, and objective investigation of the case.