Former Armenian Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan has been charged with bribery and abuse of office violations.

Also charged with bribery were his advisor while minister and eleven ministry staffers.

Piloyan was arrested on March 30 of this year following a raid by law enforcement personnel of his office related to an ongoing corruption investigation.

Piloyan, a retired army general who was awarded the title of National Hero for his participation in the 2020 Karabakh war, left for a two-week vacation, in Armenia, soon after the raid on the ministry.

Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan appointed Piloyan Emergency Situations Minister in November 2020, following the November 9 Russian-brokered ceasefire.

Piloyan was replaced as minister by Armen Pambukhchyan in April.

“There are people arrested in that case. The Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan has also been arrested. I say this with pain, it is a very painful fact,” Pashinyan said a day after Piloyan’s arrest.

The case will now go to the courts for adjudication.