Varoujan Garabedian

Biography

He was born in 1954 in Kamishli, Syria, into a family of Armenian refugees from the Armenian Genocide.

Confession to Orly airport attack

After the July 15, 1983 bombing of a Turkish Airlines check-in desk at Orly airport, Paris, the French police raided ASALA strongholds, confiscating arms and detaining 50 Armenians believed to have links to the ASALA. One of the arrested, Garabedian, confessed to being a leader of ASALA in France and planting the bomb at the Orly airport, which killed 8 people.

Victims

Four of the victims were French, two were Turkish, one was American, and one was Swedish. Among the dead there was at least one woman, Jacqueline Kirschner, whose 19-year-old son was instantly killed by the blast, as well as a young French citizen, François Luc, as reported by Associated Press.

Trial

During the trial in Créteil, France, where he was defended by Jacques Vergès (the victims of attack being defended 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, 1985 for such "deeds that were aimed at Turkish targets". During the trial he admitted that he was the head of the French branch of the Armenian militant organization ASALA.

Pardon and deportation

In the late 1990s a petition signed by over one million people in Armenia, appeals by Armenian government and civic leaders including former and current presidents of Armenia were sent to the French authorities to pardon Varoujan Garabedian and Armenia offered asylum to Garabedian upon his release from prison.

After spending 17 years in jail, he was pardoned by Bourges court of appeals on April 23, 2001 on the condition that he be deported to Armenia.

"I am glad that France managed to grant the long-awaited freedom to you after the adoption of Armenia genocide resolution", was written in the congratulation letter of Le Kordonel, the advisor of prison service on additional punishment and pardon.

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, who expressed happiness at his release. While in prison, he started to paint and produced many paintings.

Reception

Prominent Armenian intellectuals, including Zori Balayan, Silva Kaputikyan, Sos Sargsyan, Gevorg Emin, Perch Zeytuntsyan, Levon Ananyan and others expressed support of Garabedian.

2010 scandal

According to Armenian media, Garabedian is unofficially "supervising" the Yerevan-Dilijan transport line and with his guards was a part of a criminal incident in 2010.