YEREVAN. – Solely forensic medical examination can determine the matter of sanity or insanity of Russian soldier Valery Permyakov, who is the accused in the brutal murder of the Avetisyan family in Armenia’s Gyumri city.    

The Prosecutor General of Armenia, Gevorg Kostanyan, told about the above-said to reporters on Tuesday.

To the query on why those who know Permyakov had earlier described him as a mentally healthy person, but, subsequently, rumors are circulating that he is insane, Kostanyan responded by stating that the investigation into the murder should be based on facts, and the forensic medical examination is this fact.

“What his relatives, fellow soldiers, acquaintances say has absolutely no importance here,” the Armenian attorney general added.

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. 

The motives for this murder are unknown to this day.