Armenian Defense Minister Suren Papikyan today laid flowers at the grave Armenian national hero Vazgen Sargsyan in Yerevan's Yerablur Military Cemetery.

Sargsyan, who served as Armenia’s first defense minister, was assassinated in October 1999 when a group of armed men attacked the Armenian parliament.

Sargsyan, who also served as Armenian prime minister, would have turned 63 today.

The armed group killed eight people, including National Assembly Speaker Karen Demirchyan, and injured at least thirty.