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Armenia’s former Defense Minister Davit Tonoyan, who is currently held in pre-trial custody, has responded to criticism from Gagik Melkonyan, an MP from the ruling Civil Contract party.

Speaking at parliamentary debates on the proposed amendments to the defense law on Tuesday, Melkonyan said that the country’s defense minister must necessarily be a member of Nikol Pashinyan's political team.

He claims that one of the key reasons of Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 war was that the defense minister was not a member of the ruling party, which led to “desertions”.

“The fact that Gagik Melkonyan previously held high posts in the Defense Ministry does not mean he has the necessary professional and organizational skills in the defense sphere to make a judgment about the outcome of the war,” Tonoyan said in a statement from prison on Wednesday.

“I am proud that as a government member I was not part of a "team" Melkonyan is a member of," the former official said.

He also questioned the objectivity of the parliamentary inquiry into the 44-day war launched by pro-government MPs.

“I strongly believe that the defense minister, assuming political responsibility for implementing the government's defense programs, should stand above the “political team-party” discourse,” Tonoyan said.