Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
The murders of the Avetisyan family in Gyumri have shocked Armenian society. A soldier of the Russian 102nd base, Valery Permyakov, is a suspect. The reasons for the murders are unknown. Six people were shot, including a two-year-old child (only a six-month baby remained alive). The Investigative Committee of Armenia decided to name Permyakov as defendant, according to item 1 of part 2 of article 104 of the Criminal Code of Armenia – murders of two or more people. The crime caused a broad range of emotions in Armenia: from sympathy and a feeling of great tragedy to indignation and expectation of a fair punishment. Anti-Russian attitudes appeared as well. The most demonstrative example of this was an automobile cortege in Gyumri on January 14th and a subsequent protest act near the Russian base, participants of which demanded that Permyakov should be given to Armenian law-enforcement agencies and the trial should take place in Armenia.
Emotional tension is used to exaggerate anti-Russian attitude by representatives of certain non-governmental organizations which are financed by the West. “Human right activists” shout that there are no reasons for the Russian military base to stay on the territory of Armenia and that the Russian authorities should apologize to the Armenian nation. There are few chances that such anti-Russian views will turn into wide-scale long-lasting protests, as Armenians regard Russian positively and realize that criminals have no nationalities or homelands. According to an MP from Dashnaktsutyun, Armen Rustamyan, “the incident shouldn’t be connected with the status of the Russian military base and shifted to the sphere of bilateral relations.” At the same time, the MP pointed out disciplinary problems at the base – Permyakov, who was on sentry duty on January 12, the day of the murders, deserted his post and escaped the military unit, carrying a sub-machine gun. The head of the parliamentary faction of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, Vagram Dagdasaryan, wonders why the question of the reasonability of the presence of the Russian military base in Armenia is raised in the context of the incident.
This is the second such incident. In 1999 two soldiers from the Gyumri border detachment, who had drank too much, deserted the base and went to a city market where they intended to find more alcohol. They fought with traders who didn’t want to sell alcohol to very drunk soldiers. The border guards returned to the base, beat up a sentry, took his sub-machine gun, returned to the market, and fired desultory shots. As a result, two people were killed, eight people were injured. The border guards were disarmed by traders and taken to the police. In 2013 two teenagers from a local village situated near the base entered an armor training battlefield, searching for scrap metal and tripped a mine. As for the incident on January 12, the main question is where the Russian soldier who admitted his guilt will be judged – in Armenia or in Russia. According to the General Prosecution Service of Armenia, it was decided that Permyakov will remain under the control of the Russian law-enforcement agencies and won’t be given to the Armenian side. Such a decision was based on article 61 of the Criminal Code of Russia and the Constitution of Armenia. However, the next day the General Prosecutor of Armenia, Gevork Kostanyan, stated that Permyakov will be judged in Armenia.
He is accused of three crimes, one of which – deserting his post – was committed on the territory of the base, which was under Russian jurisdiction; two others were committed on the territory of Armenia (the murders of six people and attempting to cross the Armenian-Turkish border, where he was disarmed by Russian border guards and carried to the base). According to the Armenian-Russian agreement on jurisdiction and mutual legal support, which is connected with the presence of the Russian military base on the territory of the Republic of Armenia, the operation of laws of one or another country depends on the place where a crime has been committed.
Considering the agreement and specificity of the crime, the law-enforcement agencies of Russia and Armenia will provide a joint investigation, which could last for a long time. It is notable that the trial over the two border guards took place in Armenia and was headed by an Armenian judge in 1999. The Russian soldiers were sentenced to jail on the territory of Armenia. All parliamentary political forces took moderate positions and didn’t stir up anti-Russian attitudes.
