GYUMRI. – The Mayor of Gyumri, Samvel Balasanyan, has called for restraint to the residents of Armenia’s second largest city, and to all Armenians.
The mayor told the aforesaid to reporters during Wednesday’s funeral for six-month-old Seryozha, the youngest member of the Avetisyan family who were brutally killed recently in Gyumri.
“It’s a difficult time for all of us. I would like [to see] that [the people] don’t let [their] emotions get the best of [them]. The people restrained themselves yesterday and today, and this is important to us, so we may be able to put forth the people’s demand afterwards, and that this scum [i.e., the perpetrator of this crime] be sentenced.
“We must stand up. Our city must stand up, our state must stand up, our people must stand up; we must try,” Balasanyan specifically noted.
In his words, everything must be done so that the clashes, which had occurred in Gyumri during last week’s funeral of the Avetisyan family, do not repeat.
“Our demand needs to be constitutional. I, as Mayor, stand with the people, and we will stand with our message, if necessary,” Samvel Balasanyan stated.
As reported earlier, six members of the Avetisyan family—including a two-year-old girl—were shot dead, and a six-month-old baby—Seryozha Avetisyan—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.