A court in Yerevan has arrested for two months the head of the Shirak diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, who is accused of publicly calling for the seizure of power.
Lawyer Ara Zohrabyan called the court’s decision illegal and unreasonable. According to him, Ajapakhyan is banned from visits, except for close relatives and lawyers. “We have 10 days to appeal the decision, which we intend to do,” Zohrabyan said.
On the morning of June 27, a special detachment of the National Security Service and police came to the spiritual centre of the church and the residence of Catholicos Karekin II in Echmiadzin, in Armenia’s Armavir region. At the same time, the search took place at Ajapakhyan’s residence in Gyumri.
The Archbishop was in Echmiadzin at that moment at a meeting of the clergy and came out to the audience. He stated that he did not pose a threat to the country. Later it became known that Ajapakhyan together with his lawyer voluntarily came out to the police officers.
“On the morning of 25 June, Armenia’s Investigative Committee said that the participants and supporters of the opposition “holy struggle” movement, led by Armenian Apostolic Church Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, were allegedly planning terrorist attacks and violent seizure of power.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that law enforcement agencies had foiled a large-scale plan by “criminal oligarchic clergy” to destabilise the situation in the country. The homes of the movement’s supporters have been searched. Archbishop Galstanyan was detained and then arrested for two months.
The investigation comes amid a conflict between the government and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Pashinyan has previously criticised the church and claimed that Catholicos Karekin II had allegedly broken his vow of celibacy.
The church said that the government’s anti-church policy was political in nature and aimed at undermining the authority of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the country and beyond.