Trial Starts for 13 in ’99 Assassinations

Thirteen people went on trial in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital, for involvement in the 1999 assassinations of Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisyan, parliament Speaker Karen S. Demirchyan and six other officials in an attack on the parliament building.

The four accused ringleaders of the attack face seven charges, including treason, a court official said. Five others are charged with membership in a terrorist organization and complicity in a terrorist act. Three policemen are accused of negligence for allowing the attackers to enter the parliament. One man, accused of storing ammunition, remains at large.