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“We attended the court hearing of the desertion and arms theft case against Russian conscript Valery Permyakov held in the Russian garrison military court in the city of Gyumri, Armenia, so as to see him and understand how he could commit such a crime,” lawyer Lusine Sahakyan representing the legal successors of the aggrieved party told a press conference today.

As was reported, last Wednesday, August 12, Valery Permyakov, a soldier of the Russian 102nd military base in Armenia who is charged with killing the Avetisyan family, was sentenced to 10 years in a high-security prison on charges of desertion and theft of weapons. The Russian garrison military court in Armenia subordinate to the North Caucasus district military court passed a sentence on three articles of Russia’s Criminal Code – desertion with weapons, theft of weapons and ammunition, and illegal purchase, sale, possession and carrying of weapons and ammunition.  The murder case will be heard later by an Armenian court. In July, 9 volumes of materials of the criminal case of the murder of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri were handed over by Russia’s Investigative Committee to the Investigative Committee of Armenia. Besides Lusine Sahakyan, lawyers Yervand Varosyan, Yerem Sargsyan and Mihran Poghosyan will represent the interests of legal successors of the Avetisyans.

According to Lusine Sahakyan, Permyakov’s behavior at the trial was ‘very strange’, but even more strange was the fact that the Russian side found Valery Permyakov sane based on the results of psychiatric tests. “The experts who conducted Permyakov’s psychiatric evaluation came to the conclusion that he has no mental disorder, nor did he kill in the heat of passion – such is the information released at the sitting of the Russian military court in Gyumri.

“No doubt, Permyakov is sane. But a conclusion can definitely be drawn from his behavior that he has some problems,”  she said adding that the first step to be taken by  the representatives of the Avetisyan family’s legal successors is that they will file an application for an psychiatric evaluation of Permyakov by the Armenian side.

“We will be consistent in our demands that such an evaluation be conducted,” the lawyer said.    
        
To remind, the press service of the Armenian police said in January that the ambulance service received a call on January 12, 2015 that several people were found dead with gunshot wounds in house N 188 on Myasnikyan Street in the city of Gyumri,  Armenia’s Shirak province.  A task force sent to the scene revealed that an unknown person shot and killed 6 members of the Avetisyan family in their home. The seventh member of the family, 6-month-old Seryozha Avetisyan, was hospitalized with stab wounds and died on January 19.

On the night of January 13 Russian frontier guards detained conscript of the Russian 102nd military base in Armenia  Valery Permyakov – the man suspected of killing the Avetisyan family in Gyumri – during an attempt to cross the Armenian-Turkish border near Yerasghavors village in Shirak province of Armenia. Permyakov gave evidence, pleading guilty to the crime. He is currently held in custody. Investigative Committee of Armenia opened a criminal case against V. Permyakov under Article 104 part 2 point 1 of the Criminal Code – murder of two or more people.