When Valery Permyakov, a military soldier of the Russian No. 102 military base deployed in Gyumri, who was suspected in brutally killing of 6 family member of Avetisyan family and who admitted his own guilt, was detected and handed over under control not to Armenia’s, but Russia’s law enforcement, the Armenian society not yet recovering consciousness after the tragedy is unable to come to comfort about why the case of the person who has committed the severest criminal offense in the territory of the Republic of Armenia will not be examined by the laws of the Republic of Armenia. This frustration was doubled by the following statement made the next day by Armenia’s General Prosecutor’s Office, “Prosecutors General of Armenia and Russia had discussed the details of the murder case that took place a day before in Gyumri. They both highlighted that all those responsible for the tragedy must be punished with all strictness of the law. The perpetrator of the crime, Valery Permyakov, is a citizen of the Russian Federation and is under the control of the Russian law enforcement bodies, which is the same as under Russia’s jurisdiction. Therefore, the issue of handing Permyakov over to the Armenia’s law enforcement bodies is not subject to discussion given the prohibition of the Clause 1 of Article 61.1 of the Russian Constitution, which reads that ‘the citizen of the Russian Federation may not be extradited to another state.”
Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s Office emphasizes that such a ban is also defined by the Constitution of Armenia, under which, no citizen of Armenia has ever been extradited to another state. The Prosecutor’s Office has forgotten to mention that any citizen of Armenia who has committed a crime in another country has been punished by the laws of given country and was not handed over to the jurisdiction of Armenia. Exactly the same provisions as provided for by the Constitution of the Russian Federation. And what does is mean to extradite to another state? Isn’t Gyumri the city of the Republic of Armenia?
Yesterday, a spontaneous protest began, demanding not to go beyond the bounds of legality and hand the person who has committed a crime in the territory of Armenia over to Armenian law enforcement and judge by the legislation of Armenia. This was followed by the following statement issued by the Prosecutor General of Armenia, “I can assure you that the criminal will be subject to liability in the Republic of Armenia, and we all will see and have the opportunity to follow the entire process.” As to what is meant by “we will have the opportunity to follow,” perhaps is clear today. The Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan promised yesterday that he will be in Gyumri today, at 10:00 am, and will provide explanations.
While the prosecutor would clarify, we asked the founder of “Sirunyan” Law office, also member of the Chamber of Advocates, Alexander Sirunyan, whether the person committing a criminal offense in the territory of the Republic of Armenia, regardless of his nationality, is not convicted in Armenia, why the Attorney General of Armenia decided to put the legislation Armenian aside and be guided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and whether there are any substantiations for it, Mr. Sirunyan replied, “I do not know what the prosecutor’s office is thinking of. I can only say that it truly the Russian citizen cannot be extradited. So is our citizen. But, in this case, there can be no word about extradition as the offense was committed in the Republic of Armenia and the offender is in Armenia. We would have talked about extradition if he were in Russia. In this case, we are to extradite, and Russia should have asked us, while we should have thought about extraditing or not. In other words, we just have a matter of concealing the offender. And as to what our legal officials are thinking of, I do know and I not understand.”
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Since the Russian Constitution is close to our prosecutors, perhaps, the Russian expert’s opinion is also more valuable than that of the Armenian lawyer. Therefore, let’s cite the interpretation by Chief Major-General A. Tretyakov from the Major Command of the Russian Land Forces, regarding the “Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation on the Issues of Jurisdiction and Mutual Legal Assistance in Legal Matters Related to Positioning of the Russian Military Base in the Territory of the Republic of Armenia” signed in August 29, 1997, in Moscow, under the article “Russian armed forces in Armenia: some legal aspects of deployment”, which has found its place in the Russian “Law and Security” magazine, in the issue of June, 2003,
In particular, he mentions, “The fundamental principle that is enshrined in the Armenian-Russian agreement is as follows, “Legislation of the Republic of Armenia applies to cases on crimes and other offences committed in the territory of Armenia by persons who are on the staff of the Russian military base and their family members. Armenian competent bodies can also be used with regard to such persons, and during the trial, in case of use of the principle of publicity, the security interests of Russian military base are taken into consideration.
For comparison, let’s note that the Agreement on partnership in the defense sector signed between the government of Georgia and US stipulates that the American soldiers when being in the territory of Georgia are entitled to diplomatic immunity. Nevertheless, the Russian and Armenian sides have made some exceptions in the Agreement for individual cases. Particularly, Russian legislation and Russian competent agencies: the military court, the prosecutor’s office, etc. apply to the cases on crimes and other offences committed in the territory of deployment of the military base by persons who are on the staff of the Russian military base and their family members, to cases of the military offense, as well as to the crime against Russia or the persons who are on the staff of the military base and their family members. These cases can be examined by Russian competent authorities as in the territory of the military base as well as in the territory of Russia” (unofficial translation – M.B.).
Thus, Permyakov’s case, even according to the Major-General of Russian armed forces, should be examined by Armenia’s law enforcement, and justice be carried out by our laws, as Avetisyan’s house is not located in the territory of the Russian military base, Avetisyan;s family was not on the staff of the military base, Avetisyan’s family massacre is not a military crime, but the gravest criminal offense, and finally, it is a crime against the Republic of Armenia and not against Russia.
Melania BARSEGHYAN
