Epress.am News from Armenia
Shirak court of first instance resumed on March 11 hearing the case against Valery Permyakov, a former serviceman of Russia’s 102nd military base in the Armenian city of Gyumri who has confessed to killing seven members of the Avetisyan family in January, 2015. Recall, the trial is being held on the premises of the Russian base, while presiding judge Harutyun Movsisyan has rejected multiple petitions from the legal team of the Avetisyans' relatives to move the proceedings to a Gyumri courthouse.
The court today was set to hear testimonies of a number of servicemen of the Russian base, among them Andrey Nikishin, Permyakov's immediate commander at the time. Despite being subpoenaed, however, the witness failed to appear in court, while Judge Movsisyan announced that the court had received a writ from base commander Vladimir Ustinov, according to which Nikishin was no longer listed on the personnel of the 102nd military base and the management had no information about his whereabouts.
Several other Russian servicemen expected to testify Friday were also removed from the military personnel and have already left the country, officials said.