The second court hearing on the murder of the Avetisyan family multiple homicides concluded today in Gyumri.
The court denied the appeal of the relatives of the Avetisyan family to move the trial out of the Russian military base makeshift courtroom into a courthouse under the Shirak regional court of first instance. The lawyers presenting the Avetisyan side agued that the venue where the trial is taking place is not fit to serve as a courtroom, the testimonies of the accused are not audible and the space cannot accommodate journalists.
The accused Valery Permyakov, said he would be indifferent as to where the trial took place.
Following the announcement, the court adjourned for half an hour. In the second half of the trial the Avetisyan family lawyers petitioned for the presiding judge Harutyun Movsisyan to be removed from the case citing the partiality of his rulings, to which Permyakov defense objected.
The relatives of the Avetisyan family had announced earlier that they would boycott the trial if it continued to take place at the Russian military base in Gyumri. They had also demanded the presence of the Armenian Prosecutor General and expressed their discontent at the presence of Russian armed soldiers at the courtroom, finding such presence unacceptable and a sign of weakness of the Armenian judge.
Only one of their demands was met today, the accused was escorted into court and remained under the protection of Armenian forces.
On January 12, 2015, Six members of the Avetisyan family were shot dead in their sleep. The lone survivor was six-month-old Seryoza, who succumbed to his injuries a week later.
Tomorrow, friends and relatives of the Avetisyan family will commemorate the anniversary of the Seryoza’s death.
