Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Events of October 27, 1999 in Armenia (27/10)

Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Events October 27, 1999 – is a mournful date in Armenia, when the victims of the terrorist attack that occurred on this day in 1999 in the country's Parliament are remembered.

No one could even imagine that a terrorist act could be carried out in the Parliament of a state directly during a meeting of its members. However, this is exactly what happened.

A group of armed people, breaking into a meeting of Parliament, opened fire from machine guns, as a result of which Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Speaker of Parliament Karen Demirchyan, vice-speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, the country's Minister of Operational Affairs Leonard Petrosyan, as well as three deputies were killed: Henrikh Abrahamyan, Armenak Armenakyan and Mikael Kotanyan. In addition to the dead, there were wounded and injured among the deputies of the Armenian Parliament.

The leader of the terrorists turned out to be former journalist Nairi Unanyan, who during the investigation stated that the reason for his terrorist attack was an attempt, together with like-minded people, to save the country from corruption and collapse, the main reason for which was the activities of Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan. After taking members of Parliament hostage, the terrorists had several demands. One of them: a speech on television, and the second – chance for a fair investigation and trial.

Negotiations with the invaders were conducted personally by the President of the Republic of Armenia Robert Kocharyan. On October 28, 1999, a special operation was carried out to free the hostages, during which the terrorists surrendered to law enforcement agencies. Investigative actions have begun in connection with the criminal case.

Almost all participants in the terrorist attack, in addition to charges of organizing and carrying out a terrorist act and murder, were accused of high treason and initially sentenced to capital punishment.

However, investigative actions that continued until October 2003 led to the fact that instead of capital punishment, six terrorists were sentenced to life imprisonment, and another – to 14 years in prison. This happened as a result of the fact that in September 2003 a moratorium on the death penalty was declared in Armenia. Of the six sentenced to life, one was found dead in his cell in 2004, while a man sentenced to 14 years in prison was found dead in the colony where he was serving his sentence in 2010.

In Yerevan, in the park near the Parliament building in 2009, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the tragic date, a memorial was opened to those killed during this monstrous terrorist attack, where people bring flowers every year to honor their memory. Memorial services are held in churches.

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