YEREVAN. – Dozens of Etchmiadzin residents are holding a protest action near the building of the Court of Appeal demanding arrest of retired General Manvel Grigoryan.

A group of attorneys supporting Grigoryan’s lawyer Arsen Mkrtchyan are holding a protest action near the building as well.

On December 21, 2018 the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction released Manvel Grigoryan from custody on an AMD 25mn (approx. US$51,600) bail. The Prosecutor General’s Office, however, has appealed this decision to the Criminal Court of Appeal.

Grigoryan was remanded in custody on June 19, and by the decision of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction.

He is charged with unlawfully acquiring and possessing weapons and ammunition, as well as committing large-scale embezzlement. In particular, it is about the appropriation of the aid that was sent during the days of the four-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), in April 2016