Ovsep Khurshodyan: “Strange” happenings in Gyumri make us think about staged crime

Possible signing of modified EU Association Agreement could become one of the reasons for a dreadful frame-up in Gyumri, says one of the public leaders of the country.

People of Armenia announced civic mourning after seventh victim of Valery Permyakov – a six-month Sergey Avetisyan – died in the hospital. The authorities make contradicting statements without introducing mourning, which doesn’t correspond to the traditions of the country; Russian Foreign Minister asks not to politicize the allegedly domestic crime committed by an unbalanced deserter… There are too much questions in the case of a Gyumri family shooting no one gives answers to; quite the opposite, the case only becomes more complicated, notes Ovsep Khurshodyan, a member of the Steering Committee of the Eastern Partnership Civil Society Forum in the interview with “EuroBelarus” Information Service.

“The story told by the Russian investigators, who are working at the territory of the Russian military base, from where Permyakov allegedly fled is, mildly speaking, foolish. On the one hand, we have an image of a deranged criminal, all actions of whom quit fit in the frames of adequate human logic, - Ovsep Khurshodyan says. – According to the information of the Russian side, at night he was walking round the house of the Avetisyan family, asked for water, but was given none, so he just killed the whole family. Meanwhile, according to the information of one of the Armenian lawyers, who got acquainted with the results of the expertise, conducted by the Armenian side, Permyakov broke the glass of the front door, after which he opened the door from the inside and came in, i.e. quite professionally got into the house. And killing a six-month baby so that he couldn’t give him away is also very weird”.

Ovsep Khurshodyan notes that Permyakov “served in this military unit for a month only and he never was at the border; however, he immediately took the right direction, crossed two villages, while already being wanted by the police because he left his unit”. “The most interesting thing is that the deserter who was heading to the Armenian-Turkish border in the beginning headed to the opposite direction. And did he leave his unit at all? Gyumri was encircled after the dreadful crime, and no Armenian post noticed any movements of the Russian frontier guards, who allegedly were transporting Permyakov to his unit. There are no answers to these questions. And technically, it is hard to kill so many people in three different rooms. The neighbors heard the baby crying, but didn’t hear the shooting. How is it possible? All that makes Armenian people doubt the version submitted by the investigation”, - Khurshodyan says.

According to him, Russian actions were only generating tension. For example, Russian President Vladimir Putin called his Armenian counterpart only 6 days after the tragedy. “And Russian TV didn’t give the information about the tragedy for several days. It is hard to call it something but a special action, as when a road accident happens the information about it immediately appears in news. And here the crime of a Russian citizen is happening in the country that is officially referred to as a strategic ally. These “coincidences” make us think about some scenario, wicked, and terrible scenario”, - Khurshodyan says.

According to his opinion, one of the reasons for a frame-up could be the fact that “we are on the eve of signing the EU Association Agreement”. “Of course, the document doesn’t have the same name, as Armenia entered the EEU; however, it is basically identical to the one coordinated as early as in the summer of 2013 and only lacks 50 pages that contradict the provisions of the EEU Agreement. According to my information, a new document should be signed in February. Of course, Kremlin might be unaware of that. And honestly, for me it was strange that Russia didn’t react to that at all. And suddenly a tragedy in Gyumri happened. Of course, a version about a frame-up is only a version. But it is also to be considered; although, unfortunately, our law enforcement officials just renounced thorough investigation”, - Khurshodyan mentions.

According to him, the tragedy could have been orchestrated in anticipation of “protests that would drive to destabilization of the situation in the country; for instance, threat to Russian consulate, embassy, representative offices, which will allow to use force”. “It might be a message to the Armenian administration. Of course, what happened to Ukraine can hardly be repeated here – Armenia is officially in the EEU; it is rather a formal message.  The more dreadful it is the better”, - Ovsep Khurshodyan believes, noting that the actions of the Armenian authorities speak in favor of such versions: “Armenian authorities weren’t present at the funeral; neither the President, nor the Prime Minister, nor the Catholicos”. “Either they are shocked or they know what it is about. The mourning wasn’t even announced. All that makes us think about politics, not about crime. Nothing univocal has been suggested, there are too many questions, and absence of answers leads to the appearance of all the different versions”, - Ovsep Khurshodyan sums up.