The residents of Armenia’s Vanadzor city are requesting the City Council to convene a special session to demand that Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, who is the accused in the recent murder in Gyumri city, be transferred to Armenian law enforcement. Armenian News-NEWS.am has learned about the aforesaid from the Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly (HCA) Office in Vanadzor.
The members of a citizens’ initiative group had launched a signature campaign demanding from the Prosecutor General of Armenia to petition to his Russian counterpart in writing, and with a request to hand Permyakov over to the Armenian law enforcement system.
One of the objectives of this signature campaign was to call upon the Vanadzor mayor and City Council members to convene a special session, issue a message, and petition to the Armenian attorney general with such a request.
The HCA Office in Vanadzor also joined this signature campaign, and on Friday, they petitioned to the Vanadzor Municipality, with a request to hold a special session.
A total of 451 people have joined this signature campaign.
As reported earlier, six members of the Avetisyan family—including a two-year-old girl—were shot dead, and a six-month-old baby was wounded in their house in Gyumri on January 12; but the baby boy died in hospital on Monday, January 19.
Valery Permyakov, a serviceman of the 102nd Russian Military Base in the city, stands accused in this crime. Permyakov was apprehended by the Russian border guards near the Armenian-Turkish border on the same night, he was arrested on January 14, and he is held in custody at the Russian military base.
The soldier is charged under Russian law, with “the murder of more than two people” and “desertion with a service weapon.” And on Wednesday, January 21, the Investigative Committee of Armenia also filed a criminal charge against Permyakov, and with “premeditated murder of two or more persons.” The Russian soldier has accepted the charge.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia had stated that Valery Permyakov will face justice under Russian law, and this information had provoked a wave of protests in Armenia, especially in Gyumri and capital city Yerevan.
