Defence demands disqualification of judge in Permyakov's case

Today, the advocates of successors and relatives of the Avetisyan family petitioned on disqualification of Judge Arutyun Movsisyan, suspecting him of bias in the consideration of the massacre of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the trial of Valery Permyakov began in the territory of the 102^nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri in December 2015. On May 27 the defence of the successors of the Avetisyan family appealed for a civil claim in the amount of 450,000 euros against Russia, which, in the opinion of the claimants, is responsible for blunders of the command of the military base, which led to the tragedy. On June 30, the court rejected the successors' claim against Russia. The defence found the decision illegal and declared its intention to demand the disqualification of Judge Arutyun Movsisyan. In the opinion of advocates, the decision to reject the civil lawsuit to Russia was made under pressure.

Today, one of the advocates, Lusine Sahakyan, stated in the court, while presenting the disqualification motion, that Judge Movsisyan "is unable to objectively run the judicial investigation," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

According to Ms Sahakyan, "the biased and limited nature in the judge's decisions was evident from the outset of the trial," but his decision to reject the civil suit against Russia "was the last straw."

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