Armenian authorities have barred Catholicos Karekin II from leaving the country as part of a criminal case opened in January. The restriction came days ahead of a bishops’ synod scheduled for 16–19 February in Austria. As a result of his absence, the synod was downgraded to a regular meeting of bishops.
News of the criminal investigation was first shared by lawyer Ara Zohrabyan on 14 February, who described both the initiation of proceedings and the travel ban earlier the same day as an ‘unprecedented shameful act’.
In a press briefing on 13 February, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan accused the Church of seeking to remove the Catholicosate from Armenia by holding the bishops’ synod in Austria. He also claimed the synod aimed to strengthen what he described as a ‘puppet Catholicosate’ in the hands of certain forces, to be used as a tool against Armenia.
‘I will not allow that. If additional measures are required, they will be taken’, Pashinyan said.
Zohrabyan described the case as ‘an attempt to derail’ the synod in Austria, citing Pashinyan’s statement to support his view.
The criminal case against Karekin II was launched the day after Pashinyan’s remarks. Previously, he had not been investigated as part of the case involving seven clergy members opened in January. Some of those clergy members facing charges were expected to attend the synod, and the case was again described as pursuing the aim of disrupting the meeting.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The criminal proceedings are connected to the alleged failing of the Church to execute a judicial act, or obstruct its enforcement, concerning senior clergymember Bishop Gevorg Saroyan.
Saroyan had filed a lawsuit against the Church seeking to be reinstated as Primate of the Masyatsotn Diocese, a position from which he had been dismissed earlier in January.
Saroyan was never reinstated. Instead, Karekin II defrocked him on 27 January over the lawsuit challenging his dismissal.
Saroyan was among the senior clergy members who had called on the Catholicos of the Church, Karekin II, to step down. Saroyan additionally launched Pashinyan’s Church reform agenda, launched in January, which ultimately seeks to topple Karekin II.
The Mother See ‘strongly condemn[ed]’ the launched investigation against Karekin II, calling it ‘unfounded, unlawful, and clearly politically motivated’.
The Church further noted that said, adding that it was an interference ‘internal affair of the Church’.
On Monday, Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan told RFE/RL that in Karekin II’s absence, the status of the synod would be lowered, and instead convened as a gathering.
‘The gathering is holding discussions and consultations, and it may present the conclusions of those discussions to the Mother See. It does not make decisions or issue rulings’, Hovhannisyan said.
