Vazgen Sargsyan ( , ; 5 March 1959 – 27 October 1999 ) was an Armenian military commander and politician . He was the first Defence Minister of Armenia from 1991 to 1992 and then from 1995 to 1999 . He served as Armenia 's Prime Minister from 11 June 1999 until his assassination on 27 October of that year . He rose to prominence during the mass movement for the unification of Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia in the late 1980s and led Armenian volunteer groups during the early clashes with Azerbaijani forces . Appointed Defence Minister by President Levon Ter-Petrosyan soon after Armenia 's independence from the Soviet Union in late 1991 , Sargsyan became the most prominent commander of Armenian forces during the Nagorno-Karabakh War . In different positions , he regulated the military operations in the war area until 1994 , when a ceasefire was reached ending the war with the '' de facto '' unification of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic with Armenia
assassination
Armenian parliament shooting
Vazgen Sargsyan