Head of Russian IC arrives in Armenia over mass murder investigation

The Chairman of Russia’s Investigative Committee  (IC) Alexander Bastrykin arrived in Yerevan to organize the investigation into the killing of an Armenian family. A Russian soldier is charged with the killings, Interfax reported citing CI official representative Vladimir Markin. 

The country’s leadership instructed Bastrykin to “work in close cooperation with Armenian law enforcement agencies to conduct the most impartial and complete investigation of the crime circumstances,” the report notes. 

IC expressed confidence that “the person guilty of the crime will receive just punishment with the full rigor of the law”.

Six members of the Avetisyan family, including a two-year-girl, were killed in Armenia’s northwestern city of Gyumri On January 12. The only survivor, six-month-old Seryozha Avetisyan, was hospitalized in critical condition with stab wounds, but he died on January 19, despite all the life-saving measures.

Russian solider Valery Permyakov was detained on suspicion of the crime. He confessed to the killings. Permyakov is charged with murder of two or more people and desertion while carrying a service weapon.  Under the Russian Criminal Code, these crimes carry imprisonment, up to a life sentence.

Mass protests took place in Gyumri and Yerevan with demands of holding Permyakov’s trial in Armenia. It is still not known where the trial will be held.