On 12 January 2015, in the northern Armenian town of Gyumry, six people belonging to one family were murdered, including a two-year-old. Six-month-old Seryozha Avetisyan, who was found still alive, was hospitalised in a serious condition with a knife wound, but the doctors were unable to save him and he died a week later. The circumstances surrounding this bestial murder of an Armenian family in Gyumry could not but arouse society. It is a case with serious repercussions, causing psychological shock on a par with what Armenia suffered after the terrorist act in the country’s parliament on 27 October 1999. The fact that the murderer was a Russian serviceman adds great drama to it all, especially in the context of Armenia having recently joined the Eurasian Economic Union.
On 12 January 2015, in the northern Armenian town of Gyumry, six people belonging to one family were murdered, including a two-year-old. Six-month-old Seryozha Avetisyan, who was found still alive, was hospitalised in a serious condition with a knife wound, but the doctors were unable to save him and he died a week later. The circumstances surrounding this bestial murder of an Armenian family in Gyumry could not but arouse society. It is a case with serious repercussions, causing psychological shock on a par with what Armenia suffered after the terrorist act in the country’s parliament on 27 October 1999. The fact that the murderer was a Russian serviceman adds great drama to it all, especially in the context of Armenia having recently joined the Eurasian Economic Union.
I cannot agree with many politicians and experts that the anti-Russian actions and statements have been dictated exclusively by the shock felt by Armenian society as a result of the tragedy. Armenia has many people in the information sphere who are fundamentally and actively opposed to co-operation with Russia and it is obvious that they are trying to use the tragedy in Gyumry to their own ends, to identify the Gyumry murder with Russia itself and to put the country in the most negative light possible. Azerbaijani media and activists on various fora are also doing their best to fuel emotions and use the tragedy for driving a wedge between Armenia and Russia and complicating the relations between the two countries as far as they can.
The fact that the Gyumry tragedy has aroused such open and underhand speculation for political ends is to be greatly regretted. It is as if many people in Baku were thus hoping to get Russian troops withdrawn from Armenia and create the conditions for military revenge. This immoral game must be rejected, though it may be explained logically as use of dirty methods to achieve one’s own ends. How to explain, however, the activists in Armenia itself who are doing everything they can to fuel the crisis, demanding that the Russian base be withdrawn and trampling ecstatically on the Russian flag? What will happen if they achieve their desired goal and the “Russian imperial boot” they so hate is lifted from Armenia? Would the country immediately find itself in heaven in Europe’s embrace and under NATO protection? Or would all Armenian citizens find themselves in a much more difficult situation, reminiscent of that of 100 years ago? Before throwing stones at the Armenian police and Russian representative offices, they should think again. Can those using the Gyumry tragedy to fuel the conflict and incite a spiral towards new victims and tragedies be considered Armenian patriots? I hope their ideas do not prevail in Armenia or find support among the broad population.
Given that emotions are at fever pitch and are fraught with the threat of new victims, it is particularly important for the authorities of both Armenia and Russia to investigate the circumstances of the case thoroughly and as fast as possible. Members of the Russian Armed Forces deployed outside the Russian Federation bear liability for crimes committed in a foreign state under the criminal code of the Russian Federation, unless an international treaty of the Russian Federation stipulates otherwise (part 2, article 12 of the Russian Criminal Code). As a rule, international treaties provide for members of the Armed Forces to be held liable for general crimes (murder, theft, robbery, etc.) under the legislation of the country in which they are posted and for military and official crimes under that of the Russian Federation.
In the given case, the crime was both a general and a military one. Even so, the gravity of the former greatly outweighs that of the latter (desertion and the like), so it would be logical and fair to conduct open criminal proceedings within Armenia. If, for reasons of a procedural nature, the Russian serviceman does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Armenian civil court, the case could be heard by a Russian military tribunal. It is, however, absolutely vital that the court case be heard in Gyumry and openly and that the sentence handed down be appropriate to the crime committed.
