Former Minister of Defence of Armenia David Tonoyan was arrested for embezzlement. Tonoyan is pleading not guilty and the defence intends to appeal the arrest in the Court of Appeal.

Former Defence Minister David Tonoyan was detained on suspicion of embezzling about $4.7 million in the supply of weapons; the head of the supplier company David Galstyan was detained in the same case, the National Security Service of Armenia reported.

David Tonoyan does not admit his guilt. The defence intends to appeal the decision of the court in the appellate instance, his lawyer Sergei Hovhannisyan stated. "The case is connected with state official secrets. In view of this, I cannot disclose the details of the case, but I assure you that there are facts in the case materials that immediately refute Tonoyan's guilt," he stressed.

David Tonoyan was dismissed by the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on November 20, 2020. The agreement between Russia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia on the cessation of hostilities in Nagorno-Karabakh, which entered into force on November 10, 2020, provoked protests in Armenia demanding Pashinyan's resignation. After his resignation from the post of Defence Minister, David Tonoyan stated that he was ready to bear his share of responsibility for the results of the autumn war in Nagorno-Karabakh.

According to the Hraparak newspaper, the homes of former military aviation chief Avetik Muradyan and deputy chief of staff Stepan Galstyan were searched earlier.

David Tonoyan was the Minister of Defence of Armenia in 2018-2020.