Armenia’s jailed former Defense Minister David Tonoyan has been granted bail of 15 million drams (over $38,000), according to a ruling by a court in Yerevan.
The anti-corruption court of first instance approved the petition filed by Tonoyan’s lawyer, Andranik Manukian, on Thursday.
Tonoyan, who served as Armenia’s defense minister in the Pashinian government in 2018-2020, including during the 44-day Armenian-Azerbaijani war over Nagorno-Karabakh in September-November 2020, was arrested in September 2021, almost a year after being sacked from his post, on charges of supplying the armed forces with faulty ammunition.
Along with several other former senior officials he went on trial in January 2022, denying the accusations.
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Tonoyan has described the case against him as “political persecution” and has filed several petitions since his arrest seeking a change in his measure of restraint, all of which were denied.
Last year, the former defense minister was permitted by the judge to testify before an ad hoc parliamentary commission investigating the causes of Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan.
