Gyumri slaughter: Official silence a month later
18:58 | February 14,2015 | Social
I cannot imagine how the Investigation Committee of the Republic of
Armenia is going to investigate the murder of the seven-member
Avetisyan family in Gyumri if the main suspect has not been handed
over to the Armenian side, says Artur Sakunts, Head of the Helsinki
Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor office.
“We still do not know the motives behind this hideous crime. It is
equally important to understand why the murderer chose the Avetisyan
family,” he said.
Today a public discussion was organized in Gyumri on the appalling
murder of the Avetisyan family. The event was attended by 60 people.
A month has passed since the murder but the law enforcement agencies
have failed to provide reliable information on the tragedy,” says
Levon Barseghyan, chairman of Asparez Journalists’ Club in Gyumri.
The
Daniel Ionnisyan, Coordinator of the Union of Informed Citizens NGO,
says, “Many details are kept confidential though the investigation was
supposed to be transparent. The National Security Service and the
Prosecutor General’s Office have not given their replies yet.”
Three working groups were set up during the first public discussion
which later submitted the results of their work. The groups involve
journalists, lawyers and human rights activists, who wall develop and
coordinate tactions aimed at solving the crime and preventing its
repetition in the future.
The working groups stress that today Armenia is facing serious
problems in view of security.
Six members of the Avetisyan family, including a two-year-old child,
were shot dead in their house in Gyumri in the morning of January 12.
A six-month-old baby, Seryozha Avetisyan, was hospitalized with stab
wounds. He died in hospital a week later. The main suspect of the
crime, Valery Permyakov, a serviceman of Russian Military Base N 102
stationed in Gyumri, was detained by Russian border guards late in the
same day while attempting to cross the Armenian-Turkish border near
Yerazgavors village in Armenia’s Shirak province. The murder of the
seven-member family sparked violent protests in Gyumri and Yerevan,
with people demanding that Permyakov be handed over to Armenian
authorities and to stand trial by the Armenian law.