Requiem Service Held at Russian Military Base in Gyumri

A requiem service was held in the chapel of the 102nd Russian Military Base on January 15 for the members of the Avetisyan family who were brutally murdered by Russian soldier Valery Permyakov while they were sleeping on January 12.

Father Andrey of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed his deep condolences to the relatives of the Avetisyan family to the assembled Russian servicemen stationed at the military base in Gyumri. “Evil has no nationality, no citizenship because the father of evil is the devil, the enemy of God and man...Nobody knows the value of a human life as much as a soldier,” the priest said.

Requiem services were also performed in many monasteries of the Southern Military District Command of the Russian Armed Forces. “This is evidence of the spiritual unity of the army’s clergy that shares the pain of its brother, the Armenian people,” said a statement on the Russian Orthodox Church’s website.

In the early morning hours of January 12, six members of the Avetisyan family were shot in their home and their six-month-old infant Seryozha Avetisyan was stabbed. The accused is Russian soldier Valery Permyakov stationed at the 102nd Russian Military Base in Gyumri. Permyakov was apprehended by Russian military personnel trying to cross the Armenia-Turkey border. He is currently being held in custody at the Russian base. On January 14 and 15 protests took place in Gyumri and Yerevan demanding that the accused be handed over to Armenian authorities and to stand trial in an Armenian court.