Today is the 23rd anniversary of the crime of October 27. On this day in 1999, a group led by Nairi Hunanyan invaded the parliament during the NA-government question-and-answer session. It killed Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, NA Speaker Karen Demirchyan, Vice Presidents Yuri Bakhshyan, and Ruben Miroyan. The Minister of Operational Affairs Leonard Petrosyan, MPs Henrik Abrahamyan, Mikayel Kotanyan, and Armenak Armenakyan also fell victim to terrorism. Eight more people were injured.
The terrorist group took the ministers and deputies, hostage in the National Assembly hall. And only the next day did they put down their weapons and surrender.
In December 2003, the court sentenced Hunanyan and five gang members to life imprisonment; another gang member was sentenced to 14 years.
For 23 years after the murder, the question of who was behind all this has been raised. However, the answer to the question was never given, and the doubts were not dispelled. The criminal case was reopened based on the application of Anahit Bakhshyan, one of the successors of the victim in the episode of the organizers of the 2019 terror attack, but the preliminary investigation is still ongoing.
