Armenian parliament shooting

, formerly an influential Minister of Defense, was the main target of the shooting. On 27 October 1999, at around 5:15 p.m., • Vazgen Sargsyan, Prime Minister (the target) • Karen Demirchyan, National Assembly Speaker • Yuri Bakhshyan, Deputy National Assembly Speaker • Ruben Miroyan, Deputy National Assembly Speaker • Leonard Petrosyan, Minister of Urgent Affairs • Henrik Abrahamyan, Member of Parliament • Armenak Armenakyan, Member of Parliament • Mikayel Kotanyan, Member of Parliament The gunmen injured at least 30 people in the parliament. The group claimed they were carrying out a ''coup d'état'', They claimed Armenia was in a "catastrophic situation" and that "corrupt officials" were not doing anything to provide the way out. Hunanyan claimed that the eight deaths and dozens of injuries in the attack were all "innocent victims" except for the case of Sargsyan, who he said had "failed the nation". Anna Israelyan, a journalist who witnessed the incident, stated that "the first shots were fired directly at Vazgen Sargsyan at a distance of one to two meters" and, in her words, "it was impossible that he would have survived." While holding around 50 hostages inside the building, President Kocharyan gave a speech on television announcing that the situation was under control. His spokesman was quick to characterize the men as "individual terrorists" and assured that "it's only the parliament building and a very small group." In the meantime, the Armenian armed forces blocked the roads leading to Yerevan for security reasons. On 28 October 1999, President Kocharyan declared a three-day mourning period. The state funeral ceremony for the victims of the parliament shooting took place from 30 October to 31 October 1999. The bodies of the victims, including Sargsyan, were placed inside the Yerevan Opera Theater. Karekin II, the Catholicos of All Armenians, and Aram I, the Catholicos of the Holy See of Cilicia, gave prayers. ==Reaction==

Public A poll carried out immediately after the shooting (on 30–31 October) by the Center for Sociological Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia found that 56.9% of respondents said that the 27 October events were a crime against statehood and the country's authorities. 63.4% of those questioned believed that the terrorist group consisted of assassins–traitors and enemies. International • : Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer condemned the assassination of the high officials. • : The Armenian embassy in Paris received telegrams from President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and many others. • : President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan sent a telegram of condolences to President Kocharyan, saying it was a "barbaric" incident that had been received "with shock and indignation". Nazarbayev emphasized that this "monstrous crime once again demands that we join efforts to step up the uncompromising fight against terrorism which threatens people's stability, creative work and peaceful life." • : Parliament Speaker Abdul Qadir Qaddura offered condolences. Vice President Al Gore stated: "I was deeply saddened by today's shocking and brutal attack on the Armenian Parliament. I condemn this assault on Armenian democracy and extend my deep condolences to the families of the victims." On November 17, 1999, the House of Representatives passed a resolution deploring the assassinations. ==Investigation and trial==

The five men were charged with terrorism aimed at undermining authority on 29 October. The investigation was led by Gagik Jhangiryan, the Chief Military Prosecutor of Armenia, who claimed his team was looking for the masterminds of the shooting even after the trial had begun. According to Jhangiryan, the investigating team considered more than a dozen theories. By January 2000, Jhangiryan's investigators considered the connection of Kocharyan and his circle to the parliament shooting. Several figures close to Kocharyan were arrested, including Aleksan Harutiunyan, the Deputy Presidential Adviser, and Harutiun Harutiunyan, the Deputy Director of the Public Television of Armenia but, by the summer of that year, they were released. The investigation ended and the case was sent to court on 12 July 2000. The trial began on 15 February 2001, in Yerevan's Kentron and Nork-Marash District Court. The judicial case was transferred to the jurisdiction of Aghvan Hovsepyan, the Prosecutor General, and his office, which finally closed the case for lack of evidence. == Conspiracy theories ==

It has never been fully explained what motivated the attack: the gunmen claimed to have been acting on their own initiative, and despite abundant conspiracy theories, no convincing evidence surfaced to suggest that any political leader or party was behind the attack. Nevertheless, the killings left a leadership void in the political establishment. Conspiracy theories immediately flourished that the gunmen had been acting on orders to sabotage a Karabakh peace deal, but a decade on, the available evidence still pointed to the leading gunman being a loner with a grudge against the Armenian political elite. In an interview in April 2013, Rima Demirchyan, the widow of Karen Demirchyan, suggested that the shooting was commanded from outside of Armenia and that it was not an attempted coup, but rather an assassination. Former U.S. ambassador to Armenia Marie Yovanovitch suggested in Lessons From the Edge: A Memoir that the disagreements over Nagorno-Karabakh policy had "played a large role in the shooting. Alleged involvement of Robert Kocharyan and Serzh Sargsyan {{multiple image|image1=Robert Kocharyan's Interveiw, 2003.jpg|width1=180|caption1=Robert Kocharyan, President at the time of the shooting Although the investigation did not find any considerable evidence linking Kocharyan to the Hunanyan group, many Armenian people believe that President Robert Kocharyan and National Security Minister Serzh Sargsyan were behind the assassination of Vazgen Sargsyan and other leading politicians. In January 2000, investigators alleged that several members of President Robert Kocharian's inner circle had been behind the October 27 shooting, promoting some opposition figures to call for Kocharian's resignation. However, Kocharyan gradually consolidated his power throughout the year to emerge as the most powerful figure in the country's leadership. Albert Bazeyan stated in 2002 that "We have come to the conclusion that the crime was aimed at making Robert Kocharian's power unlimited and uncontrolled. By physically eliminating Karen Demirchyan and Vazgen Sargsyan, its organizers wanted to create prerequisites for Kocharyan's victory in the future presidential elections." Alleged Russian involvement In late April 2005, in an interview to an Azerbaijani newspaper Realniy Azerbaijan, the former Russian secret service agent Alexander Litvinenko accused the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation of having organised the Armenian parliament shooting, ostensibly to derail the peace process which would have resolved the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, but he offered no evidence to support the accusation. In May 2005, the Russian embassy in Armenia denied any such involvement, and described Litvinenko's accusation as an attempt to harm relations between Armenia and Russia by people against the democratic reforms in Russia. The Armenian National Security Service also denied the Russian involvement in the shootings. The NSS spokesman Artsvin Baghramyan stated "not a single fact or even a hint relating to Litvinenko's theory emerged during the trial." President Robert Kocharyan's national security adviser, Garnik Isagulyan, called Litvinenko a "sick man." On October 27, 2012, the French-based Armenian political refugee and former Apostolic priest Artsruni Avetisysan (also known by his religious name Ter Girgor) gave an interview to A1plus, in which he claimed that the Russian secret services had been behind the shooting. On May 7, 2013, in an interview to the same agency, Artsruni Avetisysan claimed the shooting was perpetrated by Lieutenant General Vahan Shirkhanyan, the Deputy Minister of Defense from 1992 to 1999 and the National Security Minister Serzh Sargsyan. He insisted the shooting was assisted by the Russian secret services in order to bring the "Neo-Bolshevik criminal clan" of Serzh Sargsyan and Robert Kocharyan into power. Other foreign involvement allegations Ashot Manucharyan, one of the leading members of the Karabakh Committee, the former Minister of Internal Affairs and Levon Ter-Petrosyan's National Security Adviser and his close ally until 1993, without presenting any proof and having access to secret services, stated in October 2000 that Armenian officials were warned by a foreign country about the shootings. He also declared that "Western special services" were involved in the October 27 events. In Manucharyan's words, "the special services of the US and France are acting to destroy Armenia, and in this context, they are much likely to be involved in the realization of the terrorist acts in Armenia." Disclaimer of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation Nairi Hunanyan, the leader of the armed group, was an ex-member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun). According to the ARF representatives, Hunanyan was expelled from the party in 1992 for misconduct Some speculations have been made about the involvement of the ARF in the shootings. Ashot Manucharyan stated in 2000 that he is much worried about the circumstance that "a number of Dashnaktsutyun party leaders are acting in the interest of the American foreign policy." ==Aftermath==

Armenian-American journalist Garin Hovannisian described the aftermath of the attack as follows: From early June to late October 1999, the political system in Armenia was based on the Demirchyan-Sargsyan tandem, which controlled the military, the legislative and the executive branches. Their assassination disrupted the political balance in the country and the political arena of Armenia was left in disarray for months. The assassination hit Armenia's international reputation, resulting in a decline in the foreign investment. The "de facto dual command" of Sargsyan and Demirchyan transferred to President Robert Kocharyan. Aram Khachatryan from the People's Party of Armenia was elected speaker of the parliament, while Vazgen Sargsyan's brother Aram Sargsyan was appointed prime minister. However, Aram Sargsyan was dismissed by President Kocharyan in May 2000 due to an "inability to work" with Sargsyan's cabinet. Republican Party leader Andranik Margaryan came to replace him as prime minister on May 12, 2000. Kocharyan remained highly unpopular in Armenia, as a poll in August 2002 showed at least three other politicians (Stepan Demirchyan, Artashes Geghamyan, Levon Ter-Petrosyan) having more support than him. Human Development Report wrote in 2000 that the "October 27 events adversely impacted the situation in the country in all aspects and spheres and its consequences will be felt for long, in economic, political and social expressions" and predicted a further decline in human development. ==Later developments==

On 27 October 2009, a memorial was installed in the National Assembly park. During the opening ceremony, Stepan Demirchyan, the son of one of the two most senior victims, Karen Demirchyan, stated that "It is impossible to get an entire revelation while the current authorities are in power. However, sooner or later the reality will be disclosed. This is a matter of our statehood's dignity. Only in case of having an entire revelation we will be able to overcome the negative consequences of the October 27 events." == See also ==