Thousands in Armenia Mourn Slain Leaders
Mourners used their hands to push earth over the polished wooden coffin of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisyan on Sunday, as thousands of people remembered the leader slain by gunmen who burst into parliament.
About 15,000 mourners filled the square outside the national opera, where the bodies of Sarkisyan, parliamentary speaker Karen S. Demirchyan and six other officials or legislators had lain in state.
“Every era gives birth to its own hero,” Armenian President Robert Kocharyan told the crowd. “Vazgen Sarkisyan was the hero of the third Armenian republic.”
The eight were killed Wednesday when five nationalist gunmen burst into parliament, where Cabinet members were attending a question-and-answer session. The gunmen surrendered Thursday after an all-night standoff with police.
The prosecutor-general has charged the suspected killers with terrorism. They could face 10 to 15 years in prison or the death penalty.
After the funeral, the double doors of the opera house opened, and Sarkisyan’s and Demirchyan’s open coffins were carried out side by side on the shoulders of a military honor guard.
After Sarkisyan’s coffin was lowered into the grave, dozens of men knelt alongside and pushed dirt over the coffin with their hands, not shovels--as they would in war.
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