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Ex-General’s Son Also Charged With Embezzlement


Armenia - Mayor Karen Grigorian (second from left) joins his supporters rallying in Echmiadzin, 16 June 2018.
Armenia - Mayor Karen Grigorian (second from left) joins his supporters rallying in Echmiadzin, 16 June 2018.

The former mayor of Echmiadzin has been charged with embezzling aid donated to the Armenian military together with his arrested father, retired General Manvel Grigorian.

Grigorian was arrested on June 16 when Armenia’s National Security Service (NSS) raided his properties in and around Echmiadzin. An official video of searches conducted there showed NSS officers finding large amounts of weapons, ammunition, medication and field rations for soldiers provided by the Armenian Defense Ministry.

They also discovered canned food and several vehicles donated by Armenians at one of Grigorian’s mansions. The private donations were made during the April 2016 fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Karen Grigorian resigned as Echmiadzin mayor immediately after the embarrassing video was aired by Armenian TV channels and widely shared on social media on June 17. He governed the town located about 20 kilometers west of Yerevan for almost ten years.

The Special Investigative Service (SIS), which is conducting the high-profile investigation, said Karen Grigorian was charged on Friday with helping his father misappropriate three military vans that were contributed by the Armenian Diaspora in Russia in 2016.

The SIS did not arrest Grigorian and instead had him sign a formal pledge not to leave the country until the inquiry is over. It was not immediately known whether the former mayor will plead guilty to the accusation carrying between four and eight years in prison.

Armenia - Retired General Manvel Grigorian speaks at a congress of the Yerkrapah Union in Yerevan, 18 February 2017.
Armenia - Retired General Manvel Grigorian speaks at a congress of the Yerkrapah Union in Yerevan, 18 February 2017.

Manvel Grigorian, 61, has denied the more serious charges levelled against him. According to his lawyers, he has told investigators that the supplies found in his property were shipped to and from there by other senior members of the Yerkrapah Union of Karabakh war veterans without his knowledge.

Grigorian, who was a prominent field commander during the war, has headed the union linked to the military for almost two decades. Its governing board decided on Saturday to suspend Grigorian as Yerkrapah chairman and convene an emergency congress of the once powerful organization.

Grigorian, who served as deputy defense minister from 2000-2008, has held sway in Echmiadzin and surrounding villages for more than two decades. He strongly supported former President Serzh Sarkisian throughout the latter’s decade-long rule. Armenian media outlets have long accused the ex-general and his family members of corruption, violent conduct and other abuses.

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