Nairi Hunanyan
Nairi Hunanyan (Armenian: Նաիրի Հունանյան, born 8 December 1965) is a former journalist and Armenian Revolutionary Federation member who led an armed attack on the Armenian Parliament on 27 October 1999.
Nairi Hunanyan | |
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Նաիրի Հունանյան | |
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| Born | Nairi Hrachi Hunanyan 8 December 1965 |
| Nationality | Armenian |
| Occupation | Philologist-journalist |
| Parents |
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Early life and education
Hunanyan was born in 1965 in Yerevan. He graduated from the Department of Philology of Yerevan State University.[1]
Career
In 1988 he became an active participant of the Armenian national liberation movement and was one of the founders of the Alliance of Armenian Students. He was a former member of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. According to the ARF, Hunanyan was expelled from the party in 1992 for misconduct[2] and had not been in any association with the ARF since then.[3] Later he founded and managed the Horizon information agency. From 1994 to 1997 he lived in Crimea, Ukraine, teaching the Armenian language at a school in Yevpatoria. He returned to Armenia in 1997.
On 27 October 1999, he, along with four other gunmen, entered the Parliament, killed the prime minister Vazgen Sargsyan, parliamentary speaker Karen Demirchyan and six other officials. In his statement, Nairi Hunanyan accused the government of leading Armenia into political and economic ruin.[1] The attackers surrendered on 28 October. The five gunmen were later each sentenced to eight life sentences.[1]
See also
References
- The Statement of Nairi Hunanyan, Head of the Armed Group of Terrorists, internews.am, accessed February 2009
- "Vazgen Sargsyan Karen Demirchian Killed in Gunmen Raid on Parliament". Asbarez. 27 October 1999. Retrieved 6 April 2013.
- "Key Armenian leaders assassinated". The Jamestown Foundation. 28 October 1999. Archived from the original on 16 June 2014.