The remains of writer, engineer Gourgen Yanikian, who inspired the founding of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA), have been moved from the US to Armenia.

The remains will be buried at Yerablur Pantheon in Yerevan On Sunday, May 5 at 15։00 pm.

Archbishop of Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Voskan Kalpakian will perform the funeral order personally.

The hero of Armenian liberation movement Yanikian was born in Erzurum (Western Armenia) in 1895. On January 27 1973, he shot two Turkish consular officials, Los Angeles Consul General Mehmet Baydar and Consul Bahadir Demir, in California.

Yanikian voluntarily went to US law enforcement agencies and defended the Armenian rights in the court. On June 2, 1973 he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Yanikian was paroled on 10 February, 1984, because of poor health, and transferred to hospital. He died of a heart attack on 27 February at the age of 88.