19:12, 12 August 2015

Permyakov sentenced to 10 years in prison

Door of the Avetisyan family’s house, Gyumri, January 14, 2015. Photo by Tigran Petrosyan for the ‘Caucasian Knot’.

The court in Gyumri has sentenced Valery Permyakov in the case of desertion, theft and illegal possession of firearms, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

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. 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.

The chairman of the court Alexander Sheldyaev has read out the verdict, which states that "the guilt of Permyakov has been proved on all points of the indictment."

In particular, under the article of "desertion", Permyakov was sentenced to six years of imprisonment; under the article of "theft of weapons" – to seven years in prison, and under the article "illegal possession of weapons" – to two years in prison.

By combination of his crimes, the court appointed to Valery Permyakov the final sentence of 10 years in a high security colony.

The state prosecution demanded to sentence Permyakov to 10 years of colony. The state prosecutor said during the session that "the Permyakov's actions have driven a wedge into the centuries-old fraternal friendship of the peoples of Armenia and Russia, having undermined the credibility of the Russian military force."

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

Author: Tigran Petrosyan

Source: CK correspondent