One David Released on Bail, the Other to Remain Detained for a Longer Time

The newspaper "Hraparak" reports that the court made an unexpected decision yesterday regarding arms supplier David Galstyan, known as Patron David, releasing him on a bail of 50 million dram. Galstyan is involved in a case regarding useless missiles opened by the National Security Service and is accused of embezzling approximately $4.7 million and committing other dangerous acts. Also detained in this case are former Minister of Defense David Tonoyan, former Deputy Chief of Staff Stepan Galstyan, and Avetik Muradyan.

The court left the other defendants in custody, rejecting the defense's application. There are reports suggesting that Patron was released because the arms procurement process has essentially been suspended for a long time, and no one is able to import weapons into Armenia, prompting the need to release Galstyan to take advantage of his connections to resume imports.

As for David Tonoyan, there is a resolute decision within high levels of government to keep the former minister in custody for as long as possible. After the decision to release Patron David, we inquired with the MP from the ruling Civil Contract party, Kristine Poghosyan, who had provided a guarantee for Tonoyan, whether it was strange that one David was released while the other was not. It turned out that the MP was unaware of the decision and was taken by surprise by the news, stating she would speak with Tonoyan's lawyer and insisted that they had merely requested a change of custody, emphasizing that Tonoyan would not flee and could attend court from home until his guilt is proven.

For more details, refer to today's issue of the newspaper.