Armenia’s top prosecutor ends criminal investigation into 1999 parliament attack
by AVET DEMOURIAN; Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
November 11, 2004 Thursday 10:14 AM Eastern Time
Armenia’s top prosecutor closed the criminal investigation into
the 1999 shooting attack on parliament that killed this ex-Soviet
republic’s prime minister and seven other people, a decision that
some politicians criticized Thursday as premature.
Prosecutor General Agvan Ovsepian said Wednesday that the five-year-old
investigation into the organizers of the Oct. 27, 1999, attack was
being closed because of a lack of information.
Six gunmen barged into the parliament chamber, shooting then-Prime
Minister Vazgen Sarkisian, Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchian and
six other officials and lawmakers. Forty hostages were held overnight
before the attackers surrendered and released the captives in exchange
for time on television and promise of a fair trial.
Alleged leader Nairi Unanian and five others were sentenced to life
in prison; one later committed suicide.
The attackers claimed they were saving Armenia from economic collapse
and official corruption. But the opposition has long suspected a
political motive since Sarkisian was believed to be moving to sideline
President Robert Kocharian.
“As a victim and a witness… I had the impression that the terrorists
did not act alone and were waiting for help from the outside,” said
Prime Minister Andranik Markarian, who was in the parliament session
during the terrorist attack.
He said that steps must be taken to “dispel this suspicion that exists
among witnesses of the terrorist attack and society.”
Democratic Party leader Aram Sarkisian, whose brother was killed in
the attack, criticized the prosecutor general’s decision, saying
it was taken “not on a legal basis but political, with the aim to
forever conceal the organizers.”
Markarian called on anyone who might have additional information to
provide it to the prosecutor general’s office. According to Armenian
law, criminal cases may be reopened if new information emerges.