Tonoyan Refuses Consent for Closed Session of Investigative Committee, Insists on Public Meeting

The former Minister of Defense of Armenia, Davit Tonoyan, has refused to give consent to the closed session of the National Assembly's investigative committee. This was announced by Tonoyan's defense team.

Earlier, it was reported that the court had allowed Tonoyan to participate in the committee meeting. He is expected to go to the parliament accompanied by staff from the penitentiary institution. The meetings are scheduled for August 1 and 2.

On July 27, a member of the National Assembly from the 'Civil Contract' faction and a member of the investigative committee, Armen Khachatryan, told a media outlet that the meeting would be closed, to which Davit Tonoyan allegedly agreed. However, according to Tonoyan's defense, the president of the investigative committee, Andranik Kocharyan, had expressly and publicly agreed to Tonoyan's proposal for an open session.

“Davit Tonoyan has not consented to a closed session, thus the information presented by the member of parliament is evidently false. The condition for the former Minister of Defense's participation in the meeting of the investigative committee formed to study the circumstances of the 44-day military operations that were unleashed on September 27, 2020, was the ability to provide explanations in an open and public manner,” the defense group's statement reads.

It also states that Davit Tonoyan reiterates his demand for a public meeting, emphasizes the importance of opposition representatives’ participation, and does not exclude the possibility and necessity of a closed discussion alongside a transparent and covered format.

At the same time, Davit Tonoyan offers the media the opportunity to use the chance provided and direct their questions of interest to them and the public through the members of the investigative committee.

It should be noted that officials have already appeared before the committee to answer certain questions, including the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Edward Asryan, former Chief of Staff Onik Gasparyan, and former Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan.

On June 20 and 27, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also answered questions before the committee.

Recall that on September 30, 2021, the National Security Service announced that Davit Tonoyan and Davit Galstyan, who was engaged in arms supply, had been arrested on suspicion of committing particularly large-scale theft. On the same day, both were detained. On June 28, the Anti-Corruption Court decided to release Davit Galstyan on a 40 million dram bail.

Charges have also been brought against the former Chief of General Staff Artak Davtyan, former Deputy Chief of Staff Stepan Galstyan, head of the Aviation Technical Property Service of the Ministry of Defense's Aviation Department, Artyom Hambaryan, and chief engineer Vladimir Babayan.