Three counterarguments questioning Prosecutor-General's letter
The Union of Informed Citizens has issued a statement saying the Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia refuses to provide them a copy of the letter Armenian Prosecutor-General sent to his Russian counterpart, asking Russia to extradite a Russian soldier accused of murdering seven members of an Armenian family in Gyumri. “On February 19, the Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement saying that the publications questioning the Armenian Prosecutor General’s letter to his Russian counterpart are ‘absurd.’ In the letter, Prosecutor-General Gevorg Kostanyan requested his Russian counterpart, Yury Chayka, to extradite the Russian soldier Valeri Permyakov who is accused of murdering the seven-member Avetisyan family in Gyumri, saying that the high-profile case should be transferred to Armenian jurisdiction.
- It is strange to hear that in the 21st century a letter sent on February 3 could not have reached the addressee [Russian Prosecutor-General] in several weeks. Even a messenger sent to Moscow from Yerevan on a horse would have got to the destination by now.
- According to the official report, in his letter Gevorg Kostanyan referred to a provision of the Armenian-Russian agreement which allows the refusal of the request. There is no reference to the previsions of the law which will oblige the Russian side to extraditethe Russian side.
- The Prosecutor’s Office of the Republic of Armenia has violated the RA Law on Freedom of Information by refusing to provide the copy of the letter to the Union of Informed Citizens and other media.