The court ruled that Andrey Razgildeyev’s prison term will be calculated from December 11, 2018, when he was taken into custody at the Russian base, meaning he is expected to be released in about eight months.
Razgildeyev, 29, pleaded not guilty throughout the investigation and trial, maintaining that neither the preliminary inquiry nor the court proceedings proved his guilt.
The prosecutor had requested an eight-year prison sentence, charging Razgildeyev under an article of the Criminal Code related to causing severe bodily harm resulting in death through negligence.
The case stems from the December 2018 death of 57-year-old Julietta Ghukasian, a resident of Gyumri. She reportedly encountered the Russian soldier early in the morning in Gyumri’s Slabodka neighborhood while on her way to work. Before she died, Ghukasian managed to reveal the identity of her attacker.
According to forensic experts, her death was caused by severe head injuries.
The daughter of the victim, Anahit Ghukasian, said she was dissatisfied with the sentence. “I demanded that he be sentenced to at least 10 years in jail so that he would spend at least three years in an Armenian prison,” she said, adding that she would appeal the sentence.
The Ghukasian family, who live in difficult social conditions, also filed a civil lawsuit with the court, demanding 1.8 million drams (about $4,600) to build the victim’s grave.
Razgildeyev’s lawyer also said they would appeal the verdict and sentence.
Ghukasian’s death elicited a strong response in Armenia, which had seen a deadly shooting spree by another Russian soldier in the same city three years earlier.
In 2015, Valery Permyakov, a 19-year-old Russian army conscript serving in Gyumri, gunned down a local seven-member family, including two children. The case sparked protests in the northwestern city and elsewhere in Armenia.
An Armenian court in August 2016 sentenced Permyakov to life in prison. Permyakov, who was also held in detention at the Russian base before and during his trial, was later transferred to Russia to serve his sentence.
