David Tonoyan's Legal Team Issues Statement

We urge and recommend to the Prime Minister of Armenia and the structures under his authority to genuinely demonstrate political will in order to ensure an objective investigation of the case and to uncover the truth behind it. Only after ensuring this objectivity will we address the examination of the suitability, production, and storage durations of the ammunition with the support of independent expertise, as well as clarify the concept of 'market price.'

This was stated in the message released by the defense team of former Armenian Minister of Defense David Tonoyan.

Recently, we learned that the National Security Service (NSS) has arrested Artyom Hambaryan, the head of the aviation technical property service of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, and Vladimir Babayan, the chief engineer of the aviation department, who had previously been interrogated as witnesses in the criminal case against David Tonoyan.

These two high-ranking officials provided testimonies that were consistent with other materials of the case and contradicting the accusations against David Tonoyan. The defense also has other information regarding the 'reasons' for the arrest of these two individuals, which we do not deem appropriate to publicize at this time.

This approach deepens the serious concerns of the defense regarding the NSS leading the preliminary investigation in a preferred direction, potentially using any means, including illegal ones, to keep David Tonoyan in custody for as long as possible, and creating an illusion of legitimacy for a case that has already collapsed.

At the same time, we find it necessary to address the NSS's statement that some of the missiles acquired some time after the supply have not been fired and have been removed from inventory, while the rest allegedly have not been used at all, including during the 44-day war that started on September 27, 2020. In this regard, it should be noted that this information is more manipulative and misleading in nature, as it has been disproven by already obtained data in the same criminal case. Specifically, according to the materials of the criminal case, some of those missiles were used during the 2020 war and even prior to that during training exercises, and no data has been obtained in the case regarding their ineffectiveness or failure to carry out combat tasks.

We also find it appropriate to remind the Prime Minister of Armenia's recent statement made in the National Assembly that this criminal case was initiated by the National Security Service, which is under the authority of the Prime Minister, and that all international reports indicate that cases of this nature cannot be uncovered and advanced without the presence of political will.

We urge and recommend to the Prime Minister of Armenia and the structures under his authority to genuinely demonstrate political will to ensure an objective investigation of the case and to uncover the truth behind it. Only after this objectivity is secured will we address the examination of the suitability, production, and storage durations of the ammunition, as well as the clarification of the concept of 'market price' with the support of independent expertise.