Armenia and Russia set up coordination centre to investigate massacre in Gyumri

Today, Agvan Ovsepyan and Alexander Bastrykin, the heads of the Investigating Committee of Armenia and Russia, have signed an agreement establishing a coordination centre to investigate the murder of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that at night on January 12, in Gyumri, six members of the Avetisyan family were assassinated. 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 coordination centre set up to investigate the murder the Avetisyan family consists of 10 persons – Armenian and Russian investigators and criminologists.

The whole investigation will be carried out in accordance with the international law and within the framework of an agreement on jurisdiction and mutual legal assistance in cases related to the presence of the Russian military base in Armenia. "Bastrykin has assured his Armenian colleagues that the criminal investigation and trial will be held in Armenia," the "News-Armenia" quotes the statement of the Investigating Committee of Armenia.

In its turn, the website Change.org has begun collecting signatures to the demand that the inquiry into the murder of the Avetisyan family was conducted by law enforcement bodies in Armenia.

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