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Armenia’s Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan met in person with the crowd of people protesting the court ruling to release Manvel Grigoryan, a retired army general and a former Republican lawmaker, to state his team also disagrees with the decision.

The protest campaign that entered a third day on Monday was taking place outside the Prosecutor General’s Office in downtown Yerevan.

“I reiterate that we have received the judicial act and don’t agree with it. We are preparing the appeal with our substantiations,” he told the demonstrators, adding his office will file an appeal with the Yerevan Court of Appeals till the end of the working day.

Davtyan said the appellate court has three days to study the appeal and convene a hearing to check the validity of the ruling issued by the first instance court.

The attorney general detailed that the first instance court has released Grigoryan on bail citing the ex-general’s health problems.

“We disagree with it. I can’t predict what decision the appellate court will make. I find that his diseases are not incompatible with arrest,” he said, adding they are also awaiting the conclusion of health workers on the matter.

The Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled on Friday to release Grigoryan from pre-trial custody on a bail of 25 million drams, 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.

The former general is 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.

The findings also include canned and preserved food labelled “Not for Sale: Soldier’s Ration”, as well as clothing, hygiene items and medicine donated to servicemen during the 2016 April war.