Valery Permyakov, a soldier of the Russian military base in Armenia, who stands accused of a family murder in Gyumri, Armenia, cannot be transferred to Armenia, as he is a citizen of Russia. This is what Prosecutor Genera of Russia replied to Zaruhi Postanjyan, Armenian MP from the Heritage opposition party.
Earlier on January 20, Postanjyan addressed an open letter to President of Russia Vladimir Putin and Prosecutor General Yuri Chayka over the murder of 7 persons of the same family in Armenia and demanded transferring Permyakov to the Armenian law-enforcement.
A family of six was killed by Russian soldier Valery Permyakov in Gyumri on Jan 12. The only survivor, six-month- old Seryozha Avetisyan, who received stab wounds, died in hospital on Jan 19. On 14 January Armenian Prosecutor General's Office reported that they did not discuss the issue of handing over of Permyakov to the Armenian party, as according to the Russian legislation, a Russian citizen cannot be handed over to another country. But after numerous protest actions near the 102-nd Russian military base in Gyumri and the meeting at the president's residence, Armenia's Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan said that the investigation of the case will be held according to the legislation of Armenia and Russia through comparing the legislative acts of the two countries. He emphasized that the criminal will be imprisoned at the territory of Armenia and the process will be transparent in order to avoid public resonance. Armenia's Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan appealed to his Russian counterpart Yuri Chayka earlier in January for Permyakov's transfer to Armenia's law-enforcement