Moscow - A Russian soldier accused of killing seven members of an Armenian family including children after fleeing his military base went on trial for murder in Armenia on Friday.
Conscripted soldier Valery Permyakov is accused of murdering a man and a woman, their grown son and daughter, the daughter-in-law and two grandchildren in their home in Gyumri, about 90 kilometres from the capital Yerevan.
Six of the victims, including the couple's two-year-old granddaughter, were shot dead, while their six-month-old grandson was stabbed to death in a rampage in January that sparked protests by locals demanding justice.
Broadcast live by Armenian TV stations, the trial began in tight security at a Russian military base in Gyumri presided over by an Armenian judge.
“Why is the trial being held at the Russian base? Are we the Russians' captives?!” shouted Rita Petrosyan, a relative of the slain Avetisyan family family who was inside the the packed courtroom.
Other relatives yelled “Shame!” and “May God damn you!” as the 19-year-old soldier sat on the bench with his head down.
Addressing the court, a lawyer for relatives said Permyakov was a member of a “Satanist group” who had pledged on social networks he would to “kill several men and several women as part of his pact with the devil.”
Permyakov was arrested after trying to flee to Turkey. His boots and Kalashnikov rifle were found at the murder scene.
Since then, he has been held at the Gyumri base, with Armenia's general prosecutor saying he could not be handed over because he was a Russian citizen being held in Russian jurisdiction.
But the decision sparked outrage and a wave of rare anti-Moscow protests in the landlocked Caucasus nation, which has a population of 2.9 million, with thousands rallying in Gyumri and Yerevan to demand he put on trial over the killings.
In a bid to calm the situation, Russia agreed to try him on charges of desertion while also allowing him to be tried for murder by an Armenian judge - but with the trial held at the base.
During his desertion trial in August, Russian military tribunal sentenced him to 10 years in jail for deserting his base in the ex-Soviet state which is a close ally of Russia.
AFP