Armenian rebel found dead in jail cell

AFP
YEREVAN, April 16

One of the men who attacked Armenia’s parliament, killing eight people
including the prime minister in 1999, was found dead in his jail cell
Friday after apparently committing suicide, the justice ministry said.

“This morning around 11, Vram Galstian, who was convicted in the
attack, committed suicide in his jail cell. He was found hanging from
a sheet,” justice ministry spokesman Ara Sagatelian told AFP.

Galstian is the uncle of former Armenian journalist Nairi Unanyan, who
led a group of rebels into parliament on October 27, 1999 in a
dramatic siege broadcast on national television and later aired across
the globe.

They shot dead prime minister Vezguen Sarkissian and the parliament
speaker, along with six deputies in parliament, before giving up after
an extended siege.

Their demands were never clearly spelled out, but analysts at the time
believed that they opposed Armenian efforts to strike a peace deal
with its neighbor and arch-foe Azerbaijan.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress