YEREVAN (Panorama.am) — Nairi Hunanyan, who is sentenced to life imprisonment over the 1999 shooting in the Armenian parliament, has applied for early release from prison, the Penitentiary Service of the country’s Ministry of Justice reported on October 22.
According to the source, the petition was received on September 11 and the decision over the case is expected to be made within an 80-day period by the respective bodies. It is noted that that the application by Hunanyan referred to the legal provision for prisoners serving life sentences who are entitled to apply for parole after 20 years of imprisonment.
Hunanyan, along with four other gunmen, organized the terrorist attack on the Armenian parliament on October 27, 1999, killing Armenia’s then Prime Minister Vazgen Sargsyan, Parliamentary Speaker Karen Demirchyan and six other officials.
The attackers surrendered on October 28. The five gunmen were later each sentenced to eight life sentences.
