The Armenian citizen Smbat Tonoyan, who was detained in Georgia in attempting to sell enriched uranium to extremists, is father of Samvel Tonoyan, a member of an investigatory group for special cases formed at the Special Investigation Service, the Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Time) newspaper.

“Samvel Tonoyan is well known in connection with the March 1 criminal case. He was a member of the investigatory group for special cases. He was included in the group later on April 30, 2008. However, he was especially ‘hard working’ in trumping up charges against opposition representatives. Specifically, he trumped up charges against the political prisoners Ara Hovhannisyan and Gabriel Gabrielyan. The former was sentenced to 9 years, the latter to 7 years. It was due to Samvel Tonoyan that many of the pogrom-makers got suspended sentences,” writes the newspaper.