Gyumri hosts protest action demanding to extradite Valery Permyakov to Armenian side
Today, in Gyumri, local residents held a protest action in front of the Russian Consulate. They demanded to extradite Valery Permyakov, accused of massacring the Avetisyan family members, to the Armenian law enforcement bodies.
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 on January 19, he died. A Russian regular soldier Valery Permyakov was arrested as a suspect of committing the massacre. He is kept under reinforced guard in the territory of the 102nd Russian military base. According to the Investigating Committee (IC) of Armenia, Permyakov officially admitted the charges against him. The mass murder in Gyumri caused a wave of protests after a GPO source said that the suspect would not be handed over to Armenian law enforcement bodies, since he is a citizen of Russia. On January 19, Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), promised to try Permyakov in Armenia, but by the Russian Military Court.
The protestors at the Gyumri rally were going to hand over a "gift" to Yuri Chaika, the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation. In particular, Karen Petrosyan, one of the activists, has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the "gift" was to include a chess set and a letter. According to Karen Petrosyan, in the letter, the activists urge Russian General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika to respond to the letter of Gevorg Kostanyan, the General Prosecutor of Armenia, about extradition of Valery Permyakov to the Armenian side. "Please answer to the letter of your Armenian counterpart. Missteps can create tension in the Armenian-Russian relations," the letter states.
According to Karen Petrosyan, the activists were approached by an official of the Russian Consulate. He referred to the regulations that he has no right to accept gifts and agreed to hand over to the consul only the letter.
Karen Petrosyan has noted that several months have already passed, and Armenian General Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan still has no official response to his letter from the Russian General Prosecutor.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
Source: CK correspondent
![Tumso Abdurakhmanov. Screenshot from video posted by Abu-Saddam Shishani [LIVE] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIR3s7AB0Uw](/system/uploads/article_image/image/0001/18460/main_image_Tumso.jpg "Tumso Abdurakhmanov. Screenshot from video posted by Abu-Saddam Shishani [LIVE] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIR3s7AB0Uw")