Jailed Armenian General Offers Land To State

Manvel Grigorian, a retired Armenian army general arrested in June on corruption charges, has offered to donate vast land holdings to the state, it emerged on Friday.

Grigorian’s lawyer, Levon Baghdasarian, said the 330-hectare plot owned by him is part of a beaver fur farm located in a village about 40 kilometers west of Yerevan.

“Real estate experts estimate its minimum market value at about $10 million,” Baghdasarian told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am).

Baghdasarian claimed that the offer extended to the Armenian government is a gesture of good which is not aimed at pleasing the public or ensuring his lenient treatment by the authorities. He argued that his client continues to deny the grave accusations levelled against him.

Grigorian was arrested when security forces raided his properties in and around the town of Echmiadzin on June 16. They found many weapons, ammunition, medication and field rations for soldiers provided by the Armenian Defense Ministry.

They also discovered canned food and several vehicles donated by Armenians at one of Grigorian’s mansions. A widely publicized official video of the raids caused shock and indignation in the country.

The Armenian parliament, of which Grigorian is a member, was quick to allow investigators to keep him under arrest him on charges of illegal arms possession and embezzlement. The once powerful general denies the accusations.

Grigorian’s lawyers have repeatedly demanded his release from pre-trial custody, saying that the 61-year-old is suffering from a number of serious illnesses. Armenian law-enforcement bodies and courts have ignored those demands so far. It remains unclear when he will go on trial.

Grigorian served as Armenia’s deputy defense minister from 2000-2008. Until his arrest he was also the chairman of the Yerkrapah Union of Karabakh war veterans, an organization which was particularly influential in the 1990s and the early 2000s. He was reelected to the parliament last year on the ticket of then President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party.