Varoujan Garabedian
{{Short description|Syrian-born Armenian nationalist}}
{{Infobox criminal
| name = Varoujan Garabedian
Վարուժան Կարապետեան
| image =
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1954|03|07}}
| birth_place = Qamishli, Al-Hasakah Governorate, Syrian Republic
| death_date = {{Death date and age|2019|01|29|1954|03|07}}
| death_place = Yerevan, Armenia
| motive = Armenian nationalism
| charge = Terrorist attack
| conviction =
| conviction_penalty = Convicted on terrorism charges
| conviction_status = Pardoned by French authorities, deported to Armenia
| occupation =
}}
Varoujan Garabedian ({{langx|hy|Վարուժան Կարապետեան}}, also Varadjian Garbidjian and Varuzhan Karapetian; March 7, 1954 – January 29, 2019) was a Syrian-born Armenian nationalist. He was a member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA) and head of the organization's French branch.Agence France Presse, April 24, 2001. Armenian terrorist freed and deported from France He was known for being the convicted perpetrator of the 1983 fatal bombing at Orly Airport in Paris. Garabedian was later pardoned by French authorities nearly 20 years after the attack.
Orly airport attack
{{main|1983 Orly Airport attack}}
On July 15, 1983, while serving as head of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia's French branch, Garabedian planted a bomb inside a suitcase at the Turkish Airlines check-in desk in the south terminal of the Orly Airport in Paris.[https://www.jpost.com/Blogs/Think-With-Me/Varoujan-Garabedian-Armenias-Adulated-Terrorist-507805 Varoujan Garabedian, Armenia’s Adulated Terrorist] at the Jerusalem Post The act was part of the group's global terrorism campaign against Turkey for the recognition and reparations for the Armenian genocide.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1983/07/19/french-police-question-armenians-in-orly-airport-bombing/f7ad3a5c-9f90-4002-a32b-2630e56accb7/ French Police Question Armenians in Orly Airport Bombing, The Washington Post]
After the bombing, the French police raided ASALA strongholds, confiscating arms and detaining 50 Armenians believed to have links to the ASALA.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/24/weekinreview/the-world-sympathy-won-t-help.html|title=THE WORLD; Sympathy Won't Help|first1=Henry|last1=Giniger|first2=Milt|last2=Freudenheim|first3=Carlyle C.|last3=Douglas|newspaper=The New York Times|date=24 July 1983|access-date=31 January 2019}} One of the arrested, Garabedian, confessed to being a leader of ASALA in France and for planting the bomb at the Orly airport.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/07/21/world/paris-says-suspect-confesses-attack.html|title=Paris Says Suspect Confesses Attack|first1=E. j Jr.|last1=Dionne|first2=Special To the New York|last2=Times|newspaper=The New York Times|date=21 July 1983|access-date=31 January 2019}} The attack killed eight people.{{cite news |title=Armenian premier meets with released ASALA member |url=http://www.rferl.org/content/article/1142396.html |work=Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Newsline |date=May 7, 2001}}
Trial
During the trial in Créteil, France, he was defended by Jacques Vergès while the victims of attack were represented by Gide Loyrette Nouel. Garabedian denied his earlier confession of having planted the bomb, but was found guilty (along with Nair Sonner and Ohannes Semerci) and sentenced to life imprisonment on March 3, 1985United Press International, Foreign News Briefs, March 4, 1985; {{in lang|fr}}[https://www.unodc.org/tldb/pdf/France_CAValdeMarne_1985.pdf Text of the verdict] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002185552/https://www.unodc.org/tldb/pdf/France_CAValdeMarne_1985.pdf |date=2012-10-02 }} for such "deeds that were aimed at Turkish targets".{{cite web|url=http://www.azg.am/EN/2001050406|title=VARUJAN KARAPETIAN: I AM STAYING IN ARMENIA, Azg, 2008-11-09|access-date=31 January 2019}} During the trial he admitted that he was the head of ASALA's French branch.
Pardon and deportation
In the late 1990s, a petition was signed by over one million people in Armenia for his release.{{Cite web|date=2013-09-21|title=Over a Million in Armenia Plead for Release of Convicted ASALA Man - The Armenian Reporter {{!}} HighBeam Research|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2371960.html|access-date=2020-12-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921053406/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P1-2371960.html|archive-date=2013-09-21}} According to the French press, after spending 17 years in jail, his lawyers were able to reopen the case because of a legislative change in the French justice system. The judges pardoned him citing good behavior in prison, efforts in compensating the victims, and that ASALA was dissolved. He was pardoned by the Bourges court of appeals on April 23, 2001 on the condition that he be deported to Armenia.{{cite news|last=Simonnot|first=Dominique|title=Le terroriste Garbidjian quitte les prisons françaises|url=http://www.liberation.fr/societe/2001/04/24/le-terroriste-garbidjian-quitte-les-prisons-francaises_362283|access-date=20 September 2013|newspaper=Libération|date=24 April 2001}}
The mayor of Yerevan, Robert Nazaryan, had pledged to provide him with employment and accommodation, and in Yerevan Garabedian had a meeting with Prime Minister Andranik Margaryan,{{Cite web |url=http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/10/29/did-not-live-up-to-eastern-promise/ |title=Budapest Times: Did not live up to Eastern promise |access-date=2012-10-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105211505/http://www.budapesttimes.hu/2012/10/29/did-not-live-up-to-eastern-promise/ |archive-date=2012-11-05 |url-status=dead }} who expressed happiness at his release. While in prison, he started to paint and produced many paintings.[http://www.sobesednik.am/old_archive/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9093:2008-08-05-16-15-53&catid=837:n25 (in Russian) "Sobesednik Armenii" #25, 2008/Невозможно постоянно иметь революционное поколение] {{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
Aftermath
Many prominent Armenian intellectuals, including Zori Balayan, Silva Kaputikyan, Sos Sargsyan, Gevorg Emin, Perch Zeytuntsyan, Levon Ananyan and others expressed support of Garabedian.{{cite web|url=http://www.azg.am/RU/2003090402|title=Azg.am: ОСТАВЬТЕ ЭТОГО ЧЕЛОВЕКА В ПОКОЕ!|accessdate=25 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413131048/http://www.azg.am/RU/2003090402 |archive-date=2014-04-13 |url-status=dead}} According to Armenian media, Garabedian was unofficially "supervising" the Yerevan-Dilijan transport line and with his guards was a part of a criminal incident in 2010.{{Cite web|url=http://www.armversion.am/2010/07/12/102/|title = 1:02-ի խտրականությունը եվ Վարուժան Կարապետյանի «արծիվները» | Arm Version}}
Garabedian died on 29 January 2019 in Yerevan from a suspected heart attack at the age of 64.{{cite web|url=https://www.wral.com/bomber-behind-fatal-1983-paris-airport-attack-dies/18155383/|title=Bomber behind fatal 1983 Paris airport attack dies|last=WRAL|date=29 January 2019|website=WRAL.com|access-date=31 January 2019}}
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Garabedian, Varoujan}}
Category:20th-century criminals
Category:Armenian people convicted of murder
Category:Armenian people imprisoned abroad
Category:Armenian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment
Category:Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia
Category:People convicted on terrorism charges
Category:Foreign nationals imprisoned in France
Category:Syrian people of Armenian descent