Epress.am News from Armenia
Valery Permyakov, the soldier accused of murdering the 7 members of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri, is not subject to being transferred to Armenian law enforcement because he is a Russian citizen, said a response to MP Zaruhi Postanjyan's letter addressed to Russian President Vladimir Putin demanding that Permyakov be transferred to Armenian law enforcement.
“The General Prosecutor's office of the Russian Federation has examined your application regarding the transfer of private V.P. Permyakov to Armenian law enforcement.
According to Article 61 of the Russian Constitution and Article 57 of Convention on Legal Assistance and Legal Relations in Civil, Family and Criminal Matters [Minsk Convention] of 01/22/1993, V.P. Permyakov is not subject to being handed over to the Republic of Armenia’s law enforcement because he is a citizen of the Russian Federation.
Currently, Russian and Armenian law enforcement bodies are cooperating closely toward an objective examination of the case, in accordance with the international agreements between the Russian Federation and Republic of Armenia,” says the response, signed by Russian Prosecutor’s Legal Help Division acting-deputy head E.B. Stepanova.
Recall, that Heritage faction MP Zaruhi Postanjyan sent a letter to Russian president Vladimir Putin, stating; “In this situation, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia and Armenians around the world are expecting your reasonable decision, to restore lawfulness and transfer the suspect in the major crime, Valery Permyakov, to the authorities of the Republic of Armenia, avoiding a confrontation between inter-state relations.”
Six members of the Avetisyan family were murdered on January 12 in their Gyumri home. The family’s seventh member, 6-month-old Seryozha Avetisyan, who had serious injuries, was transferred to the hospital and died 7 days later. Russian soldier Valery Permyakov is the central murder suspect of the case and was arrested on January 13th near the Armenian-Turkish border and was handed over to the Russian military base by Russian border guards. The latter stimulated a protest of thousands of people in Gyumri demanding his transfer to Armenian law enforcement.