Mysterious deaths: October 27 witnesses died under strange circumstances (video)
Fifteen years have passed since the October 27, 1999 terrorist act in the Armenian parliament. On that day, a group of armed men spraying automatic gunfire swept into the parliament, killing Armenian Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliament Speaker Karen Demirtchyan and several other leading politicians. Fifteen years have passed since the tragedy but the perpetrators of the crime have not been identified to this day. The investigation that lasted for 2 years and nine months did not yield any results. According to official reports, all possible investigative measures and operations were performed; they conducted numerous confrontations, inspections, seizures and appointed examinations, studied and reviewed numerous documents. However, the long trial of the gunmen failed to shed light on key questions, including how the armed gunmen led by former journalist Niari Hunanyan were able to get an accreditation to parliament through Armenian state television, or how the men were able to get their weapons and ammunition into the chamber. Tigran Nazaryan, a key witness of the case, died unexpectedly in the United States in March 2014. Nazaryan was the man who spent two hours with Nairi Hunanyan after the October 27, 1999 terrorist attack and who testified by telephone from the US giving details from the private conversation between Hunanyan and then-President Robert Kocharyan. Nazaryan said the conversation could, in fact, be recorded as there were all technical conditions. This means, he either admits that there is such recording, or makes everyone understand that its ‘non-existence’ is strange. It is more amazing that in 2000 the Public television sent its correspondent [Tigran Nazaryan] to the US and then suspended the contract with him, depriving him of the opportunity to return to his homeland. Nazaryan even gave an interview to one of the newspapers, saying he was subjected to pressure and intimidation and was said he would lose his life if he ever returned to Armenia. Tigran Nazaryan could have answered many questions if he were alive… Several people who were somewhat linked to the October 27 parliamentary carnage died under suspicious circumstances In 2000, Norayr Yeghiazaryan, who had sold weapons to the gang, died under unknown conditions, allegedly died from electrocution, in an isolation cell in Nubareshen prison. Yeghiazaryan was an electrician. However, reports said that his head carried traces of blows which was immediately brushed away by officials. In 2002, Tigran Naghdalyan, 36, Chairman of the Board of the Armenian Public Television and a key witness of the case, was shot dead at the doorstep of his apartment. Armen Sargsyan (brother of assassinated Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan) was accused and imprisoned for Naghdalyan’s murder, however, suspicion has surrounded Naghdalyan’s death that he was assassinated as an October 27 witness. In 2004, Vram Galstyan (uncle of Nairi Hunanyan) committed suicide in prison by hanging from a bed sheet. Throughout his trial Galstyan claimed that authorities had injected him with psychotropic drugs, and that they pressured him to commit suicide “so that the truth remained unrevealed.” Galstyan had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Several months later, National Assembly deputy Mushegh Movsisyan, 47, another key witness of the case, died in a car accident on Aparan-Yerevan roadway. Movsisyan was the brother of Republican MP Arakel Movsisyan. After the accident, he underwent several surgeries but to no avail. He died in hospital without gaining consciousness. The same year, Roza Hovhannisyan, a nurse on the witness list, died in an accident in the US. Another witness in the case, Hasmik Abrahamyan, 45, an employee of the NA Protocol Department, was found hanged in the NA building again in 2004. In 2010, Hamlet Stepanyan, who was sentenced to 14 years for his role in the October 27 terrorist attack on the Armenian Parliament, was found dead in Nubarshen penitentiary. According to prison officials, Hamlet Stepanyan, 57, died of a heart attack but his attorney claimed that Stepanyan did not have any health problems. Stepanyan’s sentence would have been completed in about three years. He was the third among six defendants of the controversial case who died in prison, leading human right defenders to question whether the death was by natural causes. Among the gunmen, who are serving their prison sentences, are Nairi Hunanyan and Karen Hunanyan, Derenik Bejanyan, Ashot Knyazyan and Edik Grigoryan. The latter had a stent implanted in his heart in October 29, 2013. Nairi Hunanyan also underwent surgery. He has once requested the court to review his sentence by changing life term with 20 years’ imprisonment but his request has been rejected. The attorneys involved in the case claim that there is enough evidence [obtained during the investigation and trial ] to disclose the crime, i, of course, there is political will.
