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A crowd of people protest outside the Yerevan Court of Appeals reviewing the ruling of the first instance court to release Manvel Grigoryan, a retired army general and a former Republican lawmaker.

As Gregorian’s lawyer told reporters, the court hearing has been delayed due to technical reasons. Grigoryan himself didn’t attend the hearing due to health reasons.

To remind, the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction ruled in December to release Grigoryan from pre-trial custody on a bail of 25 million drams, a move that 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.