A STAB IN THE BACK

In the last days of the old and first days of the new year, the main topic of discussion in Armenia was, as might be expected, membership in the EAEU. The New Year's holiday here, as in Russia, lasts 12 days, the real start of the "Eurasian" customs regulations was scheduled for 12 January and "pro-Western forces" had already predicted that this day could be difficult for Armenia. But no one could imagine such a tragic end of the Christmas holidays. On the morning of 12 January the country was shocked: in Gyumri, the second largest city of Armenia, a whole family was killed: in a house on Myasnikyan Street, relatives found the bodies of 53-year-old Serezha and 51-year-old Hasmik Avetisyan, their 33-year-old son Armen, 35-year-old daughter Aida, 22-year-old daughter-in-law Araksiya, two-year-old granddaughter Hasmik, and heavily wounded six-month-old grandson Serzh. Russian army soldier Private Valeriy Permyakov, who served here in Gyumri at the 102nd Russian military base, is suspected of the crime. Informed sources say that there is enough evidence - up to the point that army boots with the owner's name - Permyakov - etched with bleach on the inner side were found at the crime scene.

Then, chilling details of the tragedy leaked into the press. On the day, or rather, on the early morning of the murder (about six in the morning) inspectors found that the soldier was absent from his post, Rossiyskaya Gazeta says. Permyakov was supposed to be on guard at that moment. He left the post with weapons, i.e. he already committed a crime providing for two or three years in a penal battalion, which, according to the "knowledgeable people", is worse than prison. According to Permyakov himself, nothing bound him to the Avetisyan family. He entered the house because he was "thirsty". But once he crossed the threshold, he opened fire at the sleeping family members. He shot two-year-old Hasmik right into the crib. When it came to the six-month-old baby, the assault rifle misfired and Valeriy Permyakov used the bayonet. Then he changed into civilian clothes and headed for the Turkish border, near which he was detained in the village of Bayandur.

On the morning of 12 January, Armenian Public Television revised its broadcasts and cancelled festive and entertainment programmes. The city leadership in Gyumri cancelled a festive concert.

Yerevan attaches great importance to the investigation of the massacre in Gyumri. Already in hot pursuit, Serzh Sargsyan held a conference call with the heads of law enforcement agencies, which, according to the press service of the Armenian president, "stressed the importance of revealing details of the tragedy as soon as possible, identifying those responsible and punishing them to the full extent of the law". Yerevan emphasizes that the "command of the Russian military base stationed in Armenia is fully cooperating with the law enforcement agencies of Armenia, providing effective assistance to the investigation," the press service of the president said. In turn, the chief of the Armenian Police, Vladimir Gasparyan, created an investigative team headed by the first deputy chief of police, Lieutenant-General Hunan Pogho-syan.

Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu expressed condolences to the relatives of the victims and said in a telephone conversation with the Armenian defence minister that the Russian ministry will provide all possible assistance to the families of those killed and hold those responsible for their murder to account. They have created their own commission of inquiry headed by Deputy Defence Minister Arkadiy Bakhin. He immediately headed for Armenia and held a meeting in Gyumri with Armenian Defence Minister Seyran Ohanyan.

It is notable that after the conversation with Bakhin, Ohanyan told reporters: "Today it is inappropriate to politicize this and search for the deterioration of our relations as our relations with Russia are at quite a high political level. Our military cooperation is also at a very high level."

However, it is impossible to avoid "politicization" even in theory. In Yerevan, a rally was held in front of the Russian embassy, and its participants demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from Armenia. The next day a new demonstration was held and its participants demanded that the Armenian authorities declare mourning for the victims. The Yerevan rallies were attended by hundreds of citizens. And in Gyumri, several thousand people took to the streets, demanding not only that the troops be withdrawn but also that Permyakov be tried in Armenia, and without the right to extradition.

This demand, it should be noted, may be a serious and difficult test for the current Armenian authorities, especially in view of the fact that on 29 December 2014, the "trial" of Azerbaijani refugees from the occupied Kalbacar District, Dilqam Asgarov and Sahbaz Quliyev, on trumped-up charges of "illegal possession of weapons", "murder", etc. was completed in Xankandi.

This story has been repeatedly reported by the media: Dilqam Asgarov and Sahbaz Quliyev, refugees from Kalbacar District, crossed the front line only to see their native village, or rather what was left of it. But they could not do so unnoticed. Their third companion - Hasan Hasanov - was killed, while Asgarov and Quliyev were captured. In the last days of the past year, the "judiciary" of the self-proclaimed "NKR" sentenced Asgarov to life imprisonment and Quliyev - to 22 years in prison.

Baku emphasized from the outset: Asgarov and Quliyev are Azerbaijanis and had every right to be in the territory of Kalbacar District. But the self-proclaimed "authorities" of Nagornyy Karabakh have no such right. They have no right to organize trials.

However, what Armenia needs now is not to hold another show trial, but to conduct a real trial of a person charged with a real crime. The head of the investigative group, Hunan Poghosyan, hinted that the negotiations on the handover of Permyakov to Armenia have a chance of success. Then Prosecutor-General of Armenia Gevorg Kostanyan promised after a meeting with President Serzh Sargsyan on the murder in Gyumri that Valeriy Permyakov will be prosecuted in Armenia. "I assure you that the offender will be prosecuted in the territory of Armenia, and we will all be able to follow the whole trial," journalists quoted him as saying. However, the wording "in the territory of Armenia" is somewhat tricky. It is possible that Permyakov will be tried by the Russian military tribunal at the base. In any case, sources in Russia explicitly say: according to the Russian Constitution, a citizen of the Russian Federation may not be extradited to a foreign state. And this, it seems, says it all. Armenia can organize judicial farces, but not real sensational trials. The influence in the Moscow-Yerevan link is too uneven.