YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Gyumri city on Wednesday bid its final farewell to the last member of the Avetisyan family, Hraparak daily reported.

“The city which has seen [the devastating] earthquake [in 1988], which has seen thousands of deaths, took the infant’s death very heavily. Yesterday, outrage had ceded its place to widespread sorrow.

“In the evening, we learned that there are no hotbeds of fighting in Gyumri, but the people are troubled by the news that the murderer must be taken to the home of the Avetisyan for an investigative examination.  

“The relatives of the Avetisyan have decided to petition to the prosecutor general of Armenia, with a demand to be recognized successors of the victims.

“As a result, 7 attorneys—the representatives of the victims—will be involved, who will follow the course of the examination of the case [into the murders],” Hraparak wrote.

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.

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.” The Investigative Committee of Armenia also has launched a criminal case on these murders.

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.