Armenia`s ex-minister of defense seeks open trial - lawyers 

ArmInfo.The court is deliberately postponing the consideration of a motion for commutation  for Armenia's former minister of defense David Tonoyan, reads a statement by Mr Tonoyan's defense lawyers. 

The defense of the ex-minister claims that the criminal case against  Tonoyan is fabricated and unfounded and is political persecution. The  criminal proceedings, combined with obvious violations and  incompetent accusations, are aimed at keeping David Tonoyan in  isolation from society for as long as possible, they note.

"As part of the criminal case against David Tonoyan, the court has  already interrogated all the witnesses and two defendants. None of  the witnesses gave evidence substantiating the charges against David  Tonoyan and others. Initially, the court placed David Tonoyan in  custody on suspicion of exerting unlawful influence on witnesses. It  was obvious that it was necessary to find a new basis for keeping  David Tonoyan in custody for a long time, since after the  interrogation of the witnesses summoned to the court, the grounds for  keeping David Tonoyan in prison ended and the court would have to  release him from custody.  Accordingly, after interrogating the key  witnesses, the judge of the Anti-Corruption Court of the Republic of  Armenia Vahe Dolmazyan, having considered the petition for changing  the measure of restraint for David Tonoyan, made a decision, which,  in addition to the grounds for keeping David Tonoyan in custody,  which had no grounds, was added to exert unlawful influence on the  defendants," the statement says. 

The ex-Minister of Defense of Armenia David Tonoyan is accused of  abuse in the supply of ammunition.  He has been under arrest since  September 2021. In this case, former Chief of the General Staff of  the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan, former Deputy Chief of the General  Staff of the Armed Forces Stepan Galstyan, ex-head of the aviation  department of the Ministry of Defense Avetik Muradyan, head of the  aviation technical property service of the aviation department of the  Ministry of Defense Artem Ambaryan, chief engineer of the aviation  department Vladimir Babayan and businessman David Galstyan involved  in arms deals. The investigation accuses them of involvement in the  purchase of unusable aircraft missiles and embezzlement of more than  $4.5 million. They do not admit their guilt. On August 1 and 2, David  Tonoyan participated in the work of the commission to investigate the  circumstances of the 2020 war.