The head of the Armenia Border Department of the Russian Federal Security Service, Major General Vyacheslav Biryukov, presented some details on the apprehension of Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, who is the accused in the brutal murder of the Avetisyan family in Armenia’s Gyumri city.
At a press conference on Friday, Biryukov stressed that there is nothing secret in the actions by the Russian border guards.
“There is no difference for us which country’s citizen the border trespasser is, [and] what religion or nationality he belongs to,” the major general noted.
He informed that Permyakov was detained while attempting to cross the border of the technical engineering constructions of the frontier post. He had not adhered to the command to stop and continued to move. Warning shots were fired, too, and after his apprehension—and in accordance with the accepted decision—he was handed over to the command of the 102nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri, and as a runaway soldier.
Biryukov, calling the incident in Gyumri a great calamity, also noted that he is proud of his subordinates who had apprehended the dangerous criminal, as they had performed their task with honor and not knowing whether or not the perpetrator was armed.
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; and the baby boy died in hospital on January 19.
Valery Permyakov, a serviceman of the 102nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri, 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 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 charges.
Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am
