Ten men charged over Gyumri clashes
At least ten people have been arrested in connection with the January 15 clashes in Gyumri and charged with hooliganism. Talking to armtimes.com, Hrachya Arakelyan, an investigator of the Investigation Department of Armenia’s Shirak marz (province), confirmed the information. He said he could not reveal more details. The Avetisyans – two grandparents, their son and daughter, a daughter-in-law, and young Hamsik – were shot dead on 12 January were murdered in their home on January 12. Only a six month old boy survived, and was hospitalized with stab wounds. But he died in hospital a week later. On the same day Valery Permyakov, a Russian soldier stationed at military base No. 102 in Gyumri, was arrested by Russian border guards and Armenian security forces when attempting to cross the border with Turkey. Permyakov confessed to the murders. The murder of the seven-member family sparked violent protests in Gyumri and Yerevan, with people demanding that Permyakov be handed over to Armenian authorities and to stand trial by the Armenian law. Demonstrators took to the streets in Gyumri after a public funeral for the Avetisyan family organized by local authorities. Some 2,000 people gathered in front of the local prosecutor’s office, before some of the protesters marched to the Russian consulate. Some of the demonstrators, most of them youths, then began to hurl stones at the Russian consulate and a police cordon. Police answered by firing tear gas and stun grenades into the crowd, using their truncheons to beat back protesters trying to approach the consulate. Several people were injured in the clashes
