ArmInfo.The court is deliberately postponing the consideration of a motion for commutation for Armenia's former minister of defense David Tonoyan, reads a statement by Mr Tonoyan's defense lawyers.
The defense of the ex-minister claims that the criminal case against Tonoyan is fabricated and unfounded and is political persecution. The criminal proceedings, combined with obvious violations and incompetent accusations, are aimed at keeping David Tonoyan in isolation from society for as long as possible, they note.
"As part of the criminal case against David Tonoyan, the court has already interrogated all the witnesses and two defendants. None of the witnesses gave evidence substantiating the charges against David Tonoyan and others. Initially, the court placed David Tonoyan in custody on suspicion of exerting unlawful influence on witnesses. It was obvious that it was necessary to find a new basis for keeping David Tonoyan in custody for a long time, since after the interrogation of the witnesses summoned to the court, the grounds for keeping David Tonoyan in prison ended and the court would have to release him from custody. Accordingly, after interrogating the key witnesses, the judge of the Anti-Corruption Court of the Republic of Armenia Vahe Dolmazyan, having considered the petition for changing the measure of restraint for David Tonoyan, made a decision, which, in addition to the grounds for keeping David Tonoyan in custody, which had no grounds, was added to exert unlawful influence on the defendants," the statement says.
The ex-Minister of Defense of Armenia David Tonoyan is accused of abuse in the supply of ammunition. He has been under arrest since September 2021. In this case, former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Stepan Galstyan, ex-head of the aviation department of the Ministry of Defense Avetik Muradyan, head of the aviation technical property service of the aviation department of the Ministry of Defense Artem Ambaryan, chief engineer of the aviation department Vladimir Babayan and businessman David Galstyan involved in arms deals. The investigation accuses them of involvement in the purchase of unusable aircraft missiles and embezzlement of more than $4.5 million. They do not admit their guilt. On August 1 and 2, David Tonoyan participated in the work of the commission to investigate the circumstances of the 2020 war.