Russian Military Court to hold trial against Valery Permyakov in Armenia: source

The trial in the case against soldier Valery Permyakov, accused of murdering the Avetisyan family in Gyumri, will be held in the territory of Armenia; however, it will be held by the Military Court of Russia, an official from the Armenian government reports.

Six members of the Avetisyan family were assassinated in Gyumri on January 12. The only survivor of the attack – the six-month-old Sergey Avetisyan – was hospitalized in critical condition and underwent his treatment in Yerevan. On January 19, the baby's condition has deteriorated and he died. A Russian regular soldier Valery Permyakov is arrested as a suspect of committing the massacre. On January 15, an action was held in the city demanding to give Permyakov out to the Armenian justice; it ended with riots and clashes with the police, as a result of which 14 people suffered.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that earlier, an official of the General Prosecutor's Office of Armenia announced that Valery Permyakov will not be extradited to the Armenian law enforcement agencies, since he is a Russian citizen. Later, however, Gevorg Kostanyan, the General Prosecutor of Armenia, announced his intention to demand from Russia to extradite Valery Permyakov to the Armenian authorities.

On January 19, the bilateral negotiations reached the decision that the trial in the case against Valery Permyakov would be held in the territory of Armenia by the Russian Military Court. The parties have also agreed that the soldier will serve his sentence in Russia, the "Novaya Gazeta" reports with reference to an official of the Armenian government, whose name was not mentioned.

The "Novaya Gazeta" does not list participants of the negotiations. At present, there is no official confirmation of the information.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.