Amatuni_Vartapetyan
Amatuni Vardapetyan
Soviet Armenian politician (1900–1938)
Amatuni Simoni Amatuni (Armenian: Ամատունի Սիմոնի Ամատունի), born Amatuni Vardapetyan (Armenian: Ամատունի Վարդապետյան), was a Soviet Armenian politician who served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia from 1936 to 1937. Born in Yelisavetpol (Ganja), Elizavetpol uezd, Elizavetpol Governorate, Russian Empire, he became a member of the Bolshevik Party in 1919.[1] From 1926 to 1928 he studied at the Institute of Red Professors, then held various party positions in Yerevan, Tiflis, and Baku.[1] An ally of Lavrentiy Beria,[2] he served as Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Armenia from 1935 to 1936, then became First Secretary in 1936 after the death of his predecessor Aghasi Khanjian.[1] With Armenian NKVD chief Khachik Mughdusi, Amatuni oversaw the initial part of the Great Purge in Armenia, before his own arrest on 23 September 1937.[1] He appeared on Stalin's execution list of 26 July 1938 and was shot the same day.[3]