Gunman Drambyan received Estonian citizenship for supporting independence

PanARMENIAN.Net - Karen Drambyan, who was fatally founded in a shootout with police at Defense Ministry headquarters on August 11, had received Estonian citizenship for supporting Estonia's independence in the 1980s.

Interior Ministry files have revealed that Drambyan followed the call of the pro-independence Citizens Committee, signing up for Estonian citizenship - in theory still a punishable action in the then Soviet territory - on November 29, 1989.

At the time, that act was regarded as sufficient grounds entitling foreign nationals to citizenship and exempted the Armenian-born Drambyan from the naturalization exam, err.ee reported citing Eesti Ekspress.

After the restoration of independence, in December 1992, Drambyan applied for and received, five months later, Estonian citizenship by decree of the Mart Laar government.

The motives for Drambyan's August 11 armed attack against the Defense Ministry, currently headed by Laar, are still unclear.