Epress.am News from Armenia
The Administrative Court accepted a suit by the Union of Informed Citizens NGO against the General Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia. The suit demands the publication of the letter sent to Russian General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika by the Armenian General Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan asking for Valery Permyakov’s case to be transferred to Armenian law enforcement.
“On February 3, the Prosecutor's office released a statement, noting that Gevorg Kostanyan had motioned to the Russian General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika for the transfer of the case of the Avetisyan family murder in Gyumri. The Union of Informed Citizens applied to the General Prosecutor on February 4 demanding a copy of the sent letter and although the Law on Freedom of Information states that the copy of the letter must be provided within 5 days, the Prosecutor has still not provided said copy,” says the NGO's statement.
Note, that the General Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan stated on Tuesday that he had not received an answer from Russia yet. However, the Russian General Prosecutor's office responded to MP Zaruhi Postanjyan’s letter, stressing that the soldier Valery Permyakov suspected of murdering the Avetisyan family is not subject to transfer to the Armenian side .
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.
Photograph Pastinfo.am