Lawyer Norayr Norikyan’s commentary on legal mistakes and “disgrace” during Permyakov trial and the events preceding it

The mass murder of the Avetisyan family that took place on January 12, 2015, in Gyumri literally shook Armenia. The trial of the crime suspect Valery Permyakov and the events preceding it, raised a number of questions. Lawyer Norayr Norikyan underlines that we still could not get the answer to the main motive of this crime. “It does not fit into the limits of common sense that such a monstrous crime can be committed due to the intention to drink water or voluntarily leave the unit,” the lawyer says.  

With regard to the legal procedures, Norikyan believes that the Armenian authorities have made numerous blunders, which have brought Parmyakov under Russian jurisdiction. “Then the judicial process was the kind that the society still has doubts and concerns,” he says.

Among the most serious omissions made by the RA law enforcement agencies, the lawyer points out the fact that they allowed Permyakov to reach the border from Gyumri and surrender to the Russian border guards, and thus, in fact, fall under Russian jurisdiction. “According to the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, even in this case the frontier guards were obliged to hand over the person who attempted to illegally cross the state border to the National Security Service of Armenia,” he stresses.  

Norikyan also adds that the RA allowed Russian law enforcement officials to search for a potential criminal during the daytime, both in Gyumri and the surrounding territories. “An unprecedented phenomenon in the world,” the lawyer says. The details of the conversation in the program “Paradigm”.