Instead, Tonoyan, who has been in custody pending investigation and trial for 19 months now, challenged Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian to participate jointly with him in an open session of the commission where, he said, he would answer all questions.
Tonoyan, who served as Armenia’s defense minister in the Pashinian government in 2018-2020, including during the 44-day Armenian-Azerbaijani war in September-November 2020, was arrested in September 2021, almost a year after being sacked from his post, on charges of supplying the armed forces with faulty ammunition.
Along with several other former senior officials he went on trial in January 2022, denying the accusations.
Before the trial, however, Tonoyan warned that he must not be made a scapegoat for Armenia’s defeat in the six-week war and pledged to shed more light on it with “surprise revelations.”
Pro-government lawmaker Andranik Kocharian, who heads the parliament commission conducting the war probe, said on Tuesday that he was ready to discuss the former defense minister’s proposal.
“Have no doubt that the proposal will be considered, and, if possible, we will provide solutions,” he said.
The meetings of the commission that has worked for over a year now, are held behind closed doors and clarifications provided by officials invited to these meetings are not made available to the media.
Tonoyan said he ruled out his participation in a commission meeting that would be held behind closed doors as he said he doubted the commission’s impartiality.
“The absence of independent experts and representatives of the parliament’s opposition factions at the sessions of the commission not only raises questions about the impartiality of its work, but also is a fertile ground for the continuation of political speculations, slanders and dilettantish gossip,” the former defense chief explained.
Kocharian, for his part, ruled out any bias on the part of the commission members. “If he [Tonoyan] wants to come to the commission, there is no issue of bias here. The problem of bias will be solved if the participants ask questions and, if necessary, these questions will be available to everyone,” he said.
The ad hoc parliamentary commission has been examining the circumstances of the 44-day war since early 2022. The opposition boycotted the work of the commission from the outset. Prime Minister Pashinian stated in parliament last week that he was ready to answer questions of the commission.
As part of the parliamentary inquiry the commission has already invited and questioned former and current chiefs of the Armed Forces’ General Staff and former Minister of Foreign Affairs Zohrab Mnatsakanian.