YEREVAN. – The preventive measure which is set for National Assembly “Republican Party of Armenia” Faction MP and Yerkrapah (Defender of the Land) Volunteer Union Board’s now ex-Chairman, General Manvel Grigoryan, may be commuted in the near future, and he could be released; the reason is his health condition, according to Zhoghovurd (People) newspaper.

“Grigoryan, as is known, suffers from cancer; he was receiving chemotherapy treatments abroad, at least once a year. He was to receive the next course of treatment on June 13; but the arrest took place.

“Grigoryan’s health condition continually grows worse over the course of his detention, and that circumstance can play a decisive role in commuting [his] preventive measure.

“In a conversation with Zhoghovurd daily, his [legal] defender Arsen Mkrtchyan declared that Grigoryan faces life and death. ‘When you see a person every day, it would seem that he should be the same. But every day, I see before my eyes that [his] health condition is growing worse,’ he said,” wrote Zhoghovurd.

Manvel Grigoryan was arrested on June 19. He is charged with unlawfully keeping weapons and ammunition, and committing large-scale embezzlement. In particular, it is about the embezzlement of the aid that was sent during the days of the four-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh), in April 2016.