The detention of lawmaker Manvel Grigoryan, an influential retired general of the Armenian Armed Forces, has been extended for two months, Arevik Khachatryan, the head of the Pubic Relations Department of the Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office, told Panorama.am.

She detailed the motion on extending the MP’s detention has been filed by the Special Investigative Service (SIS).

“The court has granted the motion filed by the SIS investigator to extend the detention,” she said.

On 19 June, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction 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 included 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.