Varoujan Garabedian ( , also '' Varadjian Garbidjian '' and '' Varuzhan Karapetian '' ; March 7 , 1954 &ndash; 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 . He was known for being the accused bomber of the 1983 fatal bombing at Orly Airport in Paris . Garabedian was later pardoned by French authorities nearly 20 years after the attack
1983 fatal bombing
1983 Orly Airport attack
Varoujan Garabedian