YEREVAN. – Former ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) Chairman—and third President—Serzh Sargsyan on Monday morning met with some of his fellow party members and discussed the National Security Service (NSS) discoveries in connection with Yerkrapah (Defender of the Land) Volunteer Union Chairman and National Assembly (NA) “Republican Party of Armenia” Faction MP, General Manvel Grigoryan, according to Zhoghovurd (People) newspaper.

“In particular, Sargsyan assured his fellow party members that he was unaware of the act attributed to Grigoryan. S. Sargsyan said he did not want to believe that all this was true, but also noted that the footage he saw attests to something else.

“And at that meeting was discussed the text of the RPA yesterday’s statement where it was noted that if the culpability is confirmed, Grigoryan shall answer [for his act]. An internal arrangement was made yesterday at the RPA that the [RPA NA] faction members [on Tuesday] shall vote in favor of the [prosecutor general’s] petition for stripping the general MP from his [parliamentary] immunity,” wrote Zhoghovurd.

On June 17, the NSS disseminated footage in which food, medicine, and personal hygiene products which Armenia’s schoolchildren had sent for military servicemen as assistance were discovered at the summer residence of General Manvel Grigoryan.

Grigoryan was arrested a day earlier, and within the framework of the criminal case that was filed into the finding of illegal weapons and ammunition in his summer residence. Subsequently, he was charged with embezzlement too.