Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Court found him guilty of bribery, abuse of power and fraud.
Piloyan was arrested on these charges in March 2022 while still serving as minister in Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s cabinet. He was released on bail six months later.
Armenia’s Anti-Corruption Committee said at the time that Piloyan received a kickback in return for making decisions that benefited a private contractor. The law-enforcement agency said he was also bribed by one of his subordinates.
It also detained six other officials from the Ministry of Emergencies. They too were convicted on Tuesday. One of them, a figure close to Piloyan, was sentenced to eight years in prison, while the others received suspended jail terms.
Piloyan is a retired army general who participated in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan. During the six-week hostilities, he received Armenia’s highest state award, the title of National Hero, for leading what Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian called a successful Armenian counteroffensive southwest of Nagorno-Karabakh.
The award proved highly controversial seeing as Azerbaijani forces continued their advance in that area in the following days. Pashinian went on to appoint Piloyan as minister in November 2020 less than two weeks after a Russian-brokered ceasefire that stopped the devastating war.