Valery Permyakov cannot serve his sentence in Armenia
Valery Permyakov, a Russian soldier sentenced to life in prison for killing a seven-member family in Armenia, cannot serve his sentence in Armenia because he has not been handed over to Armenia. “The judicial act must be recognized by the Russian Federation and the sides will discuss his transfer after that,” lawyer Lusine Sahakyan told A1+. The Court of Appeal recently rejected the appeals of legal representatives of the Avetisyan family who demanded to overturn the verdict announced by a lower court and start new hearing. Moreover, the Court upheld the decision of the lower court. Lawyer Lusine Sahakyan says it was apparent that courts in Armenia were not strong enough to solve the problem. The lawyer says they are going to dispute the decision in the Constitutional Court and European Court of Human Rights. On January 12, 2015, six members of the Avetisian family were found dead in their house in Gyumri, including a 2-year-old girl. All the victims had been shot or stabbed to death. A 6-month-old boy who was seriously wounded in the violence died a week later. Immediately after killing the seven-member Avetisyan family, Permyakov fled the Russian military garrison without proper leave papers. He was detained near the Armenian-Turkish border before he could leave the territory of Armenia. In August 2015, a Russian military court found Permyakov guilty of desertion, theft of weapons, and illegally carrying weapons. The Russian judges sentenced him to 10 years. He was then transferred by Russian authorities to the custody of Armenia to face murder charges in a separate trial under Armenian law. In August 2016, a court in Armenia’s Gyumri city found Valery Permyakov guilty of murder charges and sentenced him to life in prison for the 2015 massacre.
