21 Facts About Manvel Grigoryan

Lieutenant General Manvel Sektori Grigoryan was an Armenian military leader and a member of the National Assembly of Armenia.

Manvel Grigoryan served as the president of the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union from 1999 to 2018.

Manvel Grigoryan was born on 14 July 1956 in the village of Arshaluys in Armavir province.

Manvel Grigoryan served in the Soviet Army from 1975 to 1977.

Manvel Grigoryan graduated from Stepanakert State University in 1993 and Yerevan State University in 1998.

Manvel Grigoryan commanded the Ejmiatsin Volunteer Battalion from 1992 to 1993.

In 2000, Grigoryan was appointed deputy defense minister and received the rank of lieutenant general.

On 18 June 2018, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan accused Manvel Grigoryan of participating in Khojaly Massacre and committing other war crimes.

Human rights activists like Larisa Alaverdyan who during the years of the war in Karabakh was engaged in the exchange of prisoners accused Manvel Grigoryan of breaching Geneva Conventions.

Human rights advocates, such as Artur Sakunts of the Helsinki Citizens' Assembly Vanadzor Office and Larisa Alaverdyan, argued that Manvel Grigoryan's actions went against Geneva Conventions, according to which prisoners of war cannot be held in private residences but must remain under the control of state authorities.

Manvel Grigoryan asserted that the prisoner that he had kept in his home was treated well.

Hikmet Hajiyev, then head of the ministry's press service, alleged that Manvel Grigoryan was involved in multiple war crimes during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, such as the looting of Azerbaijani property in Fuzuli and Jabrayil and the torture and killing of prisoners of war and civilians.

Manvel Grigoryan referred to Grigoryan's admission in 2014 of keeping an Azerbaijani prisoner in his personal residence.

Manvel Grigoryan was arrested in Armenia on 16 June 2018 by the National Security Service at his home in Vagharshapat.

Manvel Grigoryan was charged with the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Manvel Grigoryan was standing trial at the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction on the charges of illegal possession and storage of weapons and ammunition, embezzlement of 101,232,917 AMD, evasion of 1,228,176,342 AMD taxes, misuse of 1,225,003,300 AMD state funds and the organization of misappropriation of 37,101,100 AMD worth of property accompanied by extortion.

Manvel Grigoryan was released on a bail of 25 million AMD on 21 December 2018, but was arrested again on 22 January 2019.

Manvel Grigoryan was released again on 15 January 2020 due to his deteriorating health, and signed an affidavit not to leave the country.

Manvel Grigoryan died on November 19,2020, at the age of 64 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Armenia.

Manvel Grigoryan had previously been in critical condition after being in Artsakh a week after the start of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, where he became infected with COVID-19.

Manvel Grigoryan was not buried at Yerablur in Yerevan next to Vazgen Sargsyan, which was specified as his last wish, with his former assistant saying that the funeral will be held in his native Arshaluys.