Tonoyan was arrested more than two years ago in a criminal investigation into supplies of allegedly outdated rockets to Armenia’s armed forces. The National Security Service charged him, two generals and an arms dealer with fraud and embezzlement that cost the state almost 2.3 billion drams ($5.7 million).
All four suspects, among them former army chief of staff Artak Davtian, have denied the accusations during the trial that began in January 2022. The judge presiding over the trial has repeatedly refused to release Tonoyan from custody pending a verdict in the case.
“Political consent to arrest me was given during a meeting with the prime minister of Armenia, all participants of which are known to me and the public,” Tonoyan told the 168 Zham newspaper in an interview published this week. “Two of them are no longer in office, and rest assured that sooner or later everyone involved in making the above decision will answer for it.”
Tonoyan did not name any of those participants. Nor did he explicitly accuse Pashinian of personally ordering his imprisonment despite describing himself as a victim of “political persecution.”
Pashinian’s office has not commented on his latest claims so far. The premier’s press secretary, Nazeli Baghdasarian, did not answer phone calls from RFE/RL’s Armenian Service on Friday.
Lawmakers representing Pashinian’s Civil Contract party were also reluctant to comment, saying that they are unaware of the ex-minister’s latest statements.
“I’m not aware of that meeting and don’t know where Tonoyan heard about it,” said Andranik Kocharian, the chairman of the parliament committee on defense and security.
Pashinian appointed Tonoyan as defense minister right after coming to power in 2018. He sacked the latter in the wake of the disastrous 2020 war with Azerbaijan. Shortly before the start of his marathon trial, Tonoyan claimed that he is being made a scapegoat for Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war.
In August this year, Tonoyan agreed to testify before an ad hoc parliamentary commission tasked with examining the causes of the defeat. The two opposition blocs represented in the National Assembly have been boycotting the work of the commission. They say that it was set up last year to whitewash Pashinian’s wartime incompetence and disastrous decision making.
Tonoyan called for an end to the opposition boycott when he appeared before the commission made up of only pro-government lawmakers. Some opposition figures scoffed at the appeal, saying that the ex-minister is desperate to get the authorities to set him free.