March to be held in Yerevan Jan 26
A group of citizens will hold a march in Yerevan on January 26, demanding that the Russian soldier suspected of killing the seven-member Avetisyan family be handed over to law-enforcement authorities in Armenia. The group will march from Cascade to Abovyan and Tumanyan streets and stop at Liberty Square. In a statement issues on January 23, the initiative group said their demand stems from the agreement regulating the relationship between Armenia and Russia concerning the activities of the Russian military base stationed in Armenia’s Gyumri city. “It can guarantee an impartial investigation of the case and the administration of justice. Our demand is fair,” said the group. Residents of Gyumri city Seryozha Avetisyan, his wife Hasmik, daughter Aida, son Armen, daughter-in-law Araksya, and two-year-old granddaughter Hasmik, were murdered in their home on January 12. Only a six month old boy survived, and was hospitalized with stab wounds. But he died in hospital a week later. Valery Permyakov, a Russian soldier stationed at Russian military base N102 in Gyumri was arrested on January 12 when attempting to cross Armenia’s border with Turkey. He has confessed to the murders. The appalling crime in Gyumri shocked the entire country with people taking to the street and demanding that Permyakov be handed over to Armenian law enforcement agencies and be tried by Armenian laws.
