Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office has reported a series of evidentiary and procedural actions in the investigation into the October 27, 1999 terrorist attack carried out by Nairi Hunanyan and others.
According to the Prosecutor General’s Office, the criminal investigation, reopened on December 27, 2019, has involved several evidentiary and procedural measures between October 27, 2025, and the present.
Specifically:
- Approximately 10 interrogations and supplementary interrogations have been conducted.
- Requests for information have been submitted.
- Three instructions have been issued to the relevant operational body to conduct operational-search measures aimed at clarifying circumstances of substantial importance to the criminal proceedings.
- Documents have been examined.
- With the authorization of the supervising prosecutor, several classified documents have been seized and examined to establish circumstances of significant relevance to the case.
- Covert investigative measures are being carried out.
Under a decision issued by the Prosecutor General on February 14, 2024, responsibility for continuing the preliminary investigation in the criminal proceedings was assigned to the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia.
The preliminary investigation remains ongoing.
In 1999, an armed group led by Nairi Hunanyan stormed the chamber of Armenia’s National Assembly, killing Parliament Speaker Karen Demirchyan, Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Deputy Speakers Yuri Bakhshyan and Ruben Miroyan, lawmakers Armenak Armenakyan, Mikayel Kotanyan and Henrik Abrahamyan, and Minister Leonard Petrosyan. Eight people were killed in total, while another eight sustained injuries.
In December 2003, a court sentenced Nairi Hunanyan and five members of his group to life imprisonment, while another member received a 14-year prison sentence. Vram Galstyan, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment, subsequently died by suicide, while Hamlet Stepanyan, who had received a 14-year sentence, died unexpectedly. In the summer of 2024, Ashot Knyazyan, who was serving a life sentence in connection with the case, died at the Nubarashen penitentiary institution.
Relatives of the victims continue to maintain that the true organizers of the October 27 attack remain unidentified to this day.
