David Tonoyan Was Not Involved in Any Illegal Actions During His Tenure, Says Gabriel Balayan

David Tonoyan has not been involved in any illegal or unlawful actions during his tenure, including his time as Deputy Minister of Defense. This was stated today, June 3, during a briefing with journalists in the National Assembly by Deputy Minister of Defense Gabriel Balayan.

When asked if previous governments were part of acquiring unnecessary weapons, the deputy minister responded, "The armament of the armed forces and military equipment is acquired according to the development plan of the Armed Forces and various programs. It is a deeply planned process. I cannot state that this is a flawless process. It is possible that there have been acquisitions that have the potential for technical reform or transformation. I consider this completely normal. The issue here is the legality of all that. Everything has been done lawfully.

If there have been legal violations, then I believe that the criminal cases being investigated must clarify whether the acquisitions, which are alleged to have been obtained as a result of criminal actions, have caused harm to the state, to the Armed Forces, and there are detainees; the investigation is ongoing. I think the bodies conducting the preliminary investigation can provide clearer answers to this question. We have numerous criminal cases in which there are suspicions related to these issues, but until we have accusatory verdicts, I will refrain from commenting on whether it was lawful or not," he said.