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The Armenian Prosecutor General’s Office has appealed the ruling of a first instance court ordering the release of Manvel Grigoryan, a retired army general and a former Republican lawmaker, to the Yerevan Court of Appeals, an advisor to the attorney general, Gor Abrahamyan said on Facebook.

As reported earlier, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled on Friday to release Grigoryan from pre-trial custody on a bail of 25 million drams (approx. $51,000), a move that has prompted strong protests in his native town, Etchmiadzin, with the protesting crowd blocking up the traffic on the Yerevan-Armavir highway.

On 19 June, the Yerevan court ruled to arrest Grigoryan, who had earlier been stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

He has been charged with embezzling army supplies and illegally possessing firearms after security agents raided his Etchmiadzin villa to discover and confiscate large quantities of illegally stored weapons, explosives and cars, including military vehicles.