Armenia may transfer Pvt. Permyakov to serve sentence in Russia following Russian Justice Ministry request - source
MOSCOW. Aug 23 (Interfax) - Pvt. Valery Permyakov, sentenced to a life term for murder of the family of seven people in Armenia, may be transferred to Russia to serve his sentence following the relevant decision of a Russian court and a request from the Russian Justice Ministry, a source in the legal community told Interfax.
"After the sentence takes effect, Permyakov may file an application to a Russian court with a request to consider the issue of execution of punishment in the territory of Russia and serving of the sentence in his homeland. The court confirms the sentence and sends the documents to the Russian Justice Ministry for its execution," the source said.
Such a scenario has a relevant legal framework, which is based on international legal agreements, the source said.
Earlier on Tuesday, a court which held a session on the premises of Russia's 102nd military base in Gyumri gave a life sentence to Russian serviceman Valery Permyakov, who killed seven members of the Armenian Avetisyan family.
Seven members of the Avetisyan family, including two minors, were killed in Gyumri on January 12, 2015.
Permyakov was charged under articles 'murder of two or more people committed with extreme brutality; for financial gain, contract killing, also involving extortion, robbery and banditry,' 'robbery involving illegal break-in to house, storage or premises, with use of weapons and other items used as weapons' and 'illegal state border crossing' of the Armenian Criminal Code.
On August 12, 2015, the Russian military garrison court in Gyumri found Permyakov guilty of desertion, theft of arms and illegal bearing of arms, sentencing him to ten years in a maximum security penitentiary. This criminal case was separated from the one related to the killing in Gyumri itself.
The Armenian newspaper Zhoghovurd said earlier that Permyakov will serve the sentence not in Armenia, but in Russia. "Being well aware that Permyakov's transfer to Russia may cause a wave of discontent among the Armenian people, the authorities of Armenia and Russia are considering the issue of the serviceman's 'exchange' for Armenian citizen Hrachya Harutyunyan, a truck driver who was convicted for a road traffic accident on July 13, 2013. Thus, when Permyakov is transferred to Russia, the announcement of Harutyunyan's extradition to Armenian law enforcement officials will be made at once," the newspaper said.
On August 4, 2014, Moscow's Troitsky District Court sentenced Armenian citizen Harutyunyan, aged 46, who was driving a truck, to six years and nine months in a general-regime penal colony for a road traffic accident involving a passenger bus in the Moscow region in 2013, following which 18 people died from their injuries and 14 people sustained grievous bodily harm. Forty-seven people were recognized as victims in the case.