Armenia’s former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan will remain in custody, his lawyer Sergey Hovhannisyan told reporters on Monday.
Judge Manvel Shahverdyan of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction denied a defense motion to release him, arms dealer Davit Galstyan and two other former senior military officials involved in the case, upholding their arrest, Pastinfo reported.
In the meantime, the court ruled to release Artyom Hambaryan, another defendant in the case, on a bail of 5 million drams (approx. $10,000).
Tonoyan’s lawyers had earlier asked the court to release their client under personal guarantees offered by MPs Kristine Poghosyan and Vilen Gabrielyan from the ruling Civil Contract party, as well as President of the Hanrapetutyun Party Aram Sargsyan.
Tonoyan was arrested on 30 September on charges of “fraud and embezzlement of large sums of money” as part of a criminal probe into supplies of allegedly faulty ammunition to the Armenian army.