Zaruhi Postanjyan: Russian side broke international agreement

Legal relations between Armenia and Russia, the agreement on the military base,  and the agreement on Russian frontier troops require that the Russian side should hand over soldier of the Russian 102nd military base Valery Permyakov, who is accused of killing a family in Gyumri, to Armenian law enforcement bodies, Heritage Party member Zaruhi Postanjyan said at a press conference today.

According to her, “the Russian border guards made a flagrant violation of the law by handing V. Permyakov over to the Russian side.

“Russia broke an international agreement. It has a provision that states clearly that a person who violates the Armenian border shall be handed over to the Armenian side. The Russian border guards were obliged to take Permyakov into custody and hand him over to us because he intended to cross the Armenian border,” the deputy said.

She noted that regardless of whether the frontier violator was a Russian soldier or a citizen of Armenia or any other state, the Russian border guards had no right to detain and hand him over to the Russian side. “It is a flagrant violation of rights and is related not only to Armenia’s sovereignty, but also its Constitution,” Z. Postanjyan said.

In her words, “Armenian citizens may justly demand that the agreements on the military base and border troops of the Russian Federation be terminated”. She stressed that a respectful attitude to Armenia stems from Russia’s interests in the first place.  

Six members of the Avetisyan family, including a two-year-old girl, were killed in Gyumri on January 12. A seventh member of the family, a 6-month-old boy, was hospitalized in critical condition with stab wounds. Valery Permyakov, a soldier of the Russian 102nd military base, is suspected of the crime.

On the night of January 13, Russian border guards detained V. Permyakov during an attempt to cross the Armenian-Turkish border. He gave evidence and confessed to the crime. He is being held in custody. Armenia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 104 (murder) of the Criminal Code.

The press service of Armenian Health Ministry reported earlier today that doctors failed to save the life of six-month-old Seryozha Avetisyan who was the only survivor of the brutal killing of his family in Gyumri on January 12. Despite the life-saving measures taken by high-class Armenian and foreign doctors, the child’s condition did not improve and he was pronounced dead at 5:02 pm Yerevan time.