Armenian MP on three-year-long custody of General Mikael Arzumanyan

ArmInfo.  Former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army, Lieutenant General Mikael Arzumanyan, who joined the Artsakh Liberation War at the age of 16, has been serving a prison sentence for almost three years - this sentence is nothing more than political persecution, opposition MP Gegham Manukyan wrote on his Facebook account. 

 He noted that on the morning of May 9, the first thing he did was go  to the Vardashen penal institution on the outskirts of Yerevan, where  the general is being held for political reasons. "Unfortunately, but  for the third year in a row I am forced to congratulate Arzumanyan on  the triple holiday in prison.

The fabricated trial against him with artificial delays is still  ongoing, and it is unknown when it will end so that justice can  prevail.

It was Mikael Arzumanyan who, at the most dramatic moment of the  44-day war, 10 days before the capitulation, on October 27, took the  post of Minister of Defense of Artsakh - Commander of the Defense  Army, clearly realizing the complexity of the situation and having  the will to use his merits to defend Artsakh. Remember him during the  triple holiday," Manukyan urged.

Career military man Mikael Arzumanyan has been in prison for three  years now. Opposition politicians consider the case against  Arzumanyan to be politically motivated.

Mikael Arzumanyan was arrested for two months in September 2022. At  that time, he was charged under Part 4 of Article 375 of the Criminal  Code of the Republic of Armenia adopted on April 18, 2003 (which  corresponds to Part 3 of Article 549 of the current Criminal Code)  with abuse of power. The charge is related to the retreat order given  to the detachment that liberated the "Areg" height and adjacent  combat positions during the 2020 war in Artsakh.

In another criminal case concerning official negligence in organizing  the defense of the city of Shushi and adjacent areas, on August 30,  Arzumanyan was charged under Part 3 of Article 376 of the Criminal  Code of Armenia, adopted on April 18, 2003 (corresponds to Part 3 of  Article 550 of the current Criminal Code - military official  negligence).

Lieutenant General Mikael Arzumanyan led the Artsakh army in one of  the most difficult periods - on October 27, 2020, during the 44-day  war, replacing the wounded Jalal Harutyunyan. During the same period,  he was awarded the rank of lieutenant general. He left this post at  his own request on September 11, 2021.