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Armenia’s Justice Minister Rustam Badasyan has no desire to meet with Nairi Hunanyan, who is sentenced to life imprisonment over the 1999 shooting in the Armenian parliament. At a briefing with reporters on Tuesday, Badasyan said he had not got familiarized with the negative conclusion of the State Probation Service of Armenia on Hunanyan’s release. 

“There criteria for approving early release are regulated by legislation and the negative and positive conclusions are based on respective legislative provisions. The authorized state bodies have provided a negative conclusion on the application,” the minister said, adding the matter will not enter into a court proceedings, while at the same time there is a possibility to appeal the decision.

To remind, earlier Nairi Hunanyan, applied for early release from prison. The petition was received on September  11 and referred to the legal provision for prisoners serving life sentences who are entitled to apply for parole after 20-year 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 Sargsian, Parliamentary Speaker Karen Demirchyan and six other officials. In his statement. The attackers surrendered on October 28. The five gunmen were later each sentenced to eight life sentences.