A Yerevan court has ordered a two-month pre-trial detention for Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan, accused of making public calls for usurping power. Previously, however, in 2024, the authorities refused to launch a case against Ajapahyan after he made a similar statement.
On Friday morning, the Prosecutor’s Office reported that the decision to initiate public criminal prosecution against Ajapahyan was made on 26 June.
Previously, the Prosecutor’s Office told Armenian state news agency Armenpress on 26 June, that the proceedings were launched on 17 June.
In its Friday statement, the Prosecutor’s Office further noted that the case was based on Ajapahyan’s public calls to seize power made in two separate interviews on 21 June 2025 and 3 February 2024.
They particularly noted the repetition of the calls, claiming it indicated that the statements ‘are not emotional or careless expressions, but a conscious action that took place continuously, consistently, using mass media, information and communication technologies’.
The authorities also noted that Ajapahyan’s statements ‘appear in a new light’ in that context of the arrests of members of the Holy Struggle movement in connection to a coup attempt allegedly organised by the movement.
On 25 June, Armenian authorities raided the homes of dozens of opposition figures, including Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, following which he and 14 others were accused of plotting ‘terrorist attacks and a coup d’état’ and remanded to pre-trial detention for two months.
Shortly afterwards, the authorities published an alleged coup plan that was dated for execution in 2024. They additionally published audio recordings, which claimed were of the Holy Struggle movement’s leaders and members discussing the coup. Individuals in the recordings could be heard insulting Armenians and discussing deadly attacks as part of the plot.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
On Friday, supporters of the Armenian church prevented the authorities’ arrest of Ajapahyan at Etchmiadzin Cathedral. However, later that evening, Ajapahyan willingly surrendered himself.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
‘Political motives in the prosecution’
Following Ajapahyan’s arrest, Daniel Ioannisyan, who worked for the local civil rights group Union of Informed Citizens, published a report he filed in April 2024 regarding Ajapahyan’s call for a military coup in September 2023.
Ioannisyan also included the response of the Prosecutor’s Office at the time, which rejected to launch a case on the basis that Ajapahyan’s interview contained no ‘action that could reasonably be given a preliminary legal assessment of compliance with the act provided for’ in the criminal code.
‘The criminal prosecution of Ajapahyan should have taken place at the time when he committed that act, not now, when the authorities have started going after some certain clergymen’, Ioannisyan wrote, questioning the independence of Armenia’s judicial bodies.
Ioannisyan also stated the Union of Informed Citizens would transfer both his letter and the authorities’ response to Ajapahyan’s defenders, ‘let them use them to substantiate the presence of political motives in the prosecution’.
Pashinyan’s ‘personal vendetta’
On Sunday, over 20 civil society organisations and individuals expressed their ‘deep concern about the recent events taking place in Armenia’ in a joint statement.
They underscored that the actions of law enforcement agencies, ‘especially in sensitive situations, must be lawful, justified by the reasonable need to prevent or investigate alleged crimes, and proportionate’.
The statement additionally condemned the actions of law enforcement officers on Friday on the grounds of the Armenian church, noting that ‘judging by public statements, [their actions] were directly ordered by the highest level of executive power [Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan]’.
Prior to that, on Saturday, the Armenian Church ‘strongly condemn[ed]’ the court decision regarding Ajapahyan, seeing it as ‘a direct result of the anti-Church policies pursued’ by the authorities. They also claimed that the verdict was ‘rendered under political direction and pressure’.
The Armenian Church urged that the actions taken against Ajapahyan ‘constitute, in the classical sense, a case of political persecution and a manifestation of a personal vendetta’ by Pashinyan.
Opposition hints at impeachment
On Friday, during the attempt to arrest Ajapahyan, Armenian opposition figure Edmon Marukyan declared that he was ready to withdraw his candidacy for prime minister in case Pashinyan was impeached, proposing that Ajapahyan take his place.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
Marukyan was the candidate for two former members of the ruling Civil Contract faction, Hovik Aghazaryan and Hakob Aslanyan. Marukyan stated that the two MPs were instead ready to nominate Ajapahyan, before calling on ‘all opposition and ruling faction MPs to join this initiative’.
The two opposition factions I have Honour and Armenia Alliance also expressed their readiness to join the process. However, Ajapahyan rejected the offer.
In a handwritten statement, Ajapahyan said that he was ‘completely satisfied with my service as a clergyman, so I ask that my name not be mentioned among the candidates for prime minister’.
Pashinyan’s post taken down on Facebook
On Saturday, News.am reported that Facebook had blocked Pashinyan’s insulting posts about Catholicos Karekin II and other clergy members.
The article attached a screenshot with a Facebook notification that a post had been taken down and added that Pashinyan’s post was no longer available to view. According to news.am, this was perhaps the reason behind Pashinyan’s decision to stop using insults.
Pashinyan’s offer came on Saturday, when he suggested to ‘reach a public consensus that, starting from a given date [...] stop using profanities and engaging in hybrid targeting in the social-political-public arena, and shift to exclusively civilised and respectful debates, guided by a reliance on verified facts’.
He proposed 1 July to be the starting point for this consensus, adding that for five days he would refrain from using inappropriate language and would monitor the public’s response to his proposal.
Since late May, Pashinyan, his wife Anna Hakobyan, and other members of his Civil Contract party have regularly attacked the Church and the clergy, offering various accusations and using insults.
Tensions between Pashinyan and the Church reached an all-time high after Pashinyan claimed in late May that churches had become ‘storerooms’ and that clergymen were breaking their vows of celibacy. Pashinyan additionally accused Karekin II of having a child.
Arshaluys Barseghyan
