The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled on Wednesday to extend the pre-trial detention of lawmaker Manvel Grigoryan, a retired general of the Armenian army, for another two months.
The Special Investigative Service had petitioned the court to extend the detention of the MP for two months, while Grigoryan’s lawyers had filed a motion to the court to release him on a bail of 20 million drams.
“The court made a decision to grant the investigator’s motion and reject the motion of the defense,” Grigoryan’s lawyer Arsen Mkrtchyan told reporters after the court hearing.
He couldn’t provide any other details on the ruling.
Grigoryan was not present at today’s court hearing due to health problems.
On 19 June, the Yerevan court ruled to arrest Grigoryan, who had earlier been stripped of his parliamentary immunity.
He has been charged with embezzling army supplies and illegally possessing firearms after security agents raided his Etchmiadzin villa to discover and confiscate large quantities of illegally stored weapons, explosives and cars, including military vehicles.
The findings also include canned and preserved food labelled “Not for Sale: Soldier’s Ration”, as well as clothing, hygiene items and medicine donated to servicemen during the 2016 April war.
A private zoo and a large car collection were also found during the search of his compound.
