The heads of the Investigative Committees of Armenia and Russia, Aghvan Hovsepyan and Alexander Bastrykin, respectively, on Tuesday signed an agreement.

The document is with respect to the setting up of a coordination headquarters to ensure the effectiveness of the Armenian-Russian cooperation in the investigation of the criminal case that has been filed into the murder of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri city.

Accordingly, the headquarters will comprise ten persons—representatives and criminologists—from the investigative committees of the two countries, informed the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

The investigation and ensuing hearings into this criminal case will be conducted pursuant to international law, and in accordance with the precepts that are specified by the Armenia-Russia agreement on the jurisdiction and mutual legal assistance in connection with the presence of the Russian military base in Armenia.

At the meeting between the heads of the Armenian and the Russian investigative committees, Bastrykin assured that the examination, investigation, and resultant court hearing into the criminal case, which has been filed against Russian soldier Valery Permyakov—who stands accused of committing the brutal murders in Gyumri—, will be conducted in Armenia.

The Russian delegation, led by Alexander Bastrykin, returned to Moscow on Tuesday evening.

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.