Criminal proceedings have been initiated against seven more clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, with a ban on leaving the country selected as a preventive measure. The seven clergy members are accused of failing to execute a court ruling or obstructing its enforcement through the use of official authority or influence.
The criminal proceedings are the latest episode in an ongoing confrontation between the Church and the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The case falls within the framework of proceedings concerning Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, who 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 among the senior clergy members who had called on the Catholicos of the Church, Karekin II, to step down. Saroyan additionally Pashinyan’s Church reform agenda launched in January, which ultimately seeks to topple Karekin II.
OC Media
On 16 January, the day after Saroyan filed a lawsuit against the Church, a court in Armenia ruled that he be reinstated to his official position. The decision was a temporary measure, with the order in place only until the end of Saroyan’s court battle against the Church.
Saroyan was never reinstated, however — instead Karekin II defrocked him on 27 January over the lawsuit challenging his dismissal.
Two days later, the new criminal case was opened against the seven clergy members. All seven were summoned as suspects to the Investigative Committee on 31 January.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
The Mother See ‘strongly condemn[ed]’ what they called the authorities’ ‘latest interference in the internal affairs’ of the Church, and urged officials ‘to respect the Church’s right to autonomy’.
Commenting on the chosen preventive measures, the Mother See claimed a connection with the upcoming Episcopal Assembly due to be held in Austria on 16–19 February, saying that the travel bans were ‘aimed at undermining the normal activities’ of the Church, ‘particularly the work of the upcoming Episcopal Assembly’.
Amidst the escalating rift between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the government, Armenian authorities have arrested a number of high-ranking clergy members on charges ranging from plotting a coup to drug planting.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
