Epress.am News from Armenia
The findings of forensic medical examination showed that some members of the Avetisyan family, victims of the massacre on January 12 in Gyumri, woke up and tried to resist the murderer, the representative of the victim's legal successor, Lusine Sahakyan said during a press conference on Thursday, May 14.
According to Sahakyan, the body of Aida Avetisyan, who was killed in the first room, was found in her bed, while Hasmik Avetisyan -in the second room – was found with her legs hanging out of the bed, indicating that the woman was probably awake. Her husband, Seryozha Avetisyan, apparently tried to resist the perpetrator. This is indicated by the scratches discovered on his body, which may have been caused by a knife.
DNA analysis showed that Seryozha Avetisyan's blood was found on the barrel and the butt of the weapon. Probably, the man grabbed the barrel, and subsequently the perpetrator hit him with the butt.
Then, the murderer went to the third room. Armen Avetisyan's dead body was discovered lying on the floor. The man, probably, had got out of bed. In the same room, Avetisyan's wife, Araks Poghosyan, tried to show resistance to the perpetrator: the woman took her son Seryozha in her arms and attempted to shield him with her body. This is evidenced by the stab wounds discovered on her hands: the same type of injuries were also found on the baby's body, Lusine Sahakyan said.
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.