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Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has issued an update on its ongoing investigation into the October 27, 1999 terrorist attack on the Armenian parliament, reporting a number of investigative and procedural actions taken over the past year.
Approximately 10 interrogations and additional questioning have been conducted. Requests for information have been sent. Three instructions have been issued to the relevant operational body to conduct operational-intelligence measures to establish circumstances of significance to the criminal proceedings. Documents have been examined. With the authorization of the supervising prosecutor, a number of classified documents have been seized and examined to establish circumstances of significance to the criminal proceedings. Covert investigative actions are being carried out.
“During the preceding period, the supervising prosecutor also held meetings with citizens who possessed certain information about the case. The results of these meetings were forwarded to the investigator for the relevant evidentiary actions to be carried out,” the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a press release.
The Investigative Committee was instructed to continue the preliminary investigation in February 2024.
The preliminary investigation is ongoing.
On October 27, 1999, a group of five heavily armed gunmen stormed the Armenian parliament during a session and assassinated Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Speaker of Parliament Karen Demirchyan, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, as well as three lawmakers and a Cabinet member. The gunmen held the remaining MPs hostage until they surrendered to the authorities the following day. The perpetrators were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Over the years, various theories have emerged about possible masterminds or accomplices, including allegations of foreign involvement in the attack.
The investigation was reopened in 2019.