Who benefited from the convict’s death?
An inmate sentenced to 14 years for his participation in the October 27parliamentary carnage died in Nubarshen penitentiary on May 15.
He is the third among six defendants of the controversial case who died in prison, leading human right defenders to question whether the death was by natural causes.
Norayr Eghiazaryan, another convict in the case, died in the same prison on August 29, 2000. According to forensic examination, Eghiazaryan died of high voltage electricity though some sources said he died of injuries in the head.
Norayr Eghiazaryan was the person who had sold weapons to the gang that rushed in the Armenian parliament and killed members of parliament and government on October 27, 1999.
On April 16, 2004, another executor of the terrorist attack Vram Galstyan sentenced to life imprisonment, committed suicide by hanging from a bed sheet. Galstyan reportedly behaved strangely before the death promising to reveal the details of the attack.
Before the death, Vram Galstyan was moved to a solitary confinement cell at his own request. Galstyan was the uncle of the terrorists' group leader Nairi Hunanyan.
After the accident, Samvel Hovhannisyan, head of the Penitentiary Department, announced that Vram had frequently attempted suicide.
On March 15, 2010 jailed gunman Hamlet Stepanyan died suddenly in Nubarashen. Unlike the other members of the group, Hamlet was sentenced to 14 years in prison and was to come out in 2-3 years. He was not directly involved in the events taking place inside the National Assembly and waited outside the parliament building. Hamlet joined the group in the morning of October 27, 1999.
"I am convinced that Stepanyan had no information about the real organizers of the parliamentary carnage. At the same time, I am confident that that Stepanyan possessed information about forces which were to join the group after the killings," representative of Demirtchyan's legal interests Ashot Sargsyan told A1+.
"In this sense, Stepanyan's death was advantageous to criminals who were waiting for Derenik Bezhanyan's call to join the criminal group."
Ashot Sargsyan is waiting for coroner's conclusion although he believes the official version will be exactly the same as was in the case of Vram Galstyan. Mr. Sargsyan stresses the importance of human rights defenders who have to monitor the disclosure of true circumstances of the death.
Asked whether the other members of the group are not periled, Mr. Sargsyan said: "It is not excluded that Nairi Hunanyan may be found death one day but it will raise the need for power change. As long as Nairi and Karen Hunanyans and Edik Grigoryan are alive, the power will not resign as the new authorities will disclose the true organizers of October 27 through the group."
October 27, 1999 a group of terrorists rushed in the Armenian parliament hall and shot point-blank leaders and members of the Armenian parliament and government. Eight were killed - National Assembly speaker Karen Demirchian, prime minister Vazgen Sargsian, parliament vice-speakers Yuri Bakhshian and Ruben Miroyan, minister for operational issues Leonard Petrosian, parliament deputies Armenak Armenakian, Henrik Abrahamian, Mikayel Kotanian.
