Archbishop Mikael Ajapahian was taken into custody and charged with calling for a violent regime change the day after Pashinian threatened to forcibly remove Catholicos Garegin II from his Echmiadzin headquarters if the supreme head of the church refuses to resign.
Security forces met with fierce resistance from hundreds of angry priests and laymen when they raided the Mother See on June 27 in a failed bid to arrest Ajapahian there. The latter surrendered to investigators several hours after the unprecedented raid.
The case against the 62-year-old cleric highly critical of the Armenian government is based on a 2024 interview in which he discussed the need for a coup d’etat in the country. The Office of the Prosecutor-General concluded at the time that his remarks do not warrant criminal charges. It now says that he was prosecuted for making a similar statement in June this year.
Ajapahian continued to reject the accusation as politically motivated and remained defiant throughout his trial that began on August 15.
“I am freer in prison and have had so much opportunity to talk with God and myself that I am happy and grateful for it,” he said in his concluding remarks at the trial on Tuesday. “So, dear people, don't worry about me.”
Ajapahian went on to accuse Pashinian’s administration of “nullifying” the Armenian victory in the 1991-1994 war in Nagorno-Karabakh and blame it for Armenia’s defeat in the 2020 fighting with Azerbaijan.
“I am happy to be in the dock under these circumstances and conditions because being a defendant under this government for political reasons can only bring honor and joy and happiness,” added the primate of a church diocese encompassing Armenia’s northwestern Shirak province..
In her preliminary verdict, the presiding judge, Armine Meliksetian, convicted him of calling for a violent overthrow of the country’s constitutional order. Meliksetian is expected to announce the punishment for Ajapahian later this month or early next. He is facing up to five years in prison.
Ajapahian’s lawyers said they will appeal against the initial ruling. One of them, Ara Zohrabian, predicted the “political decision” on Tuesday. He claimed that Pashinian’s government wants to keep the archbishop in jail at least until the next parliamentary elections due in June 2026. The lawyers say the unusually fast pace of the trial is a further indication that the court is guided by government orders.
The Armenian Church was quick to condemn the ruling as a “very serious blow to justice in Armenia.”
“This shameful judicial act, made in the context of repression and hatred continuously sown in the country, once again confirmed that the judicial system in the Republic of Armenia is completely dependent on the will of the political authorities,” it said in a statement.
Armenian opposition leaders also deplored the guilty verdict. Some of them have attended court hearings on the high-profile case.
Pashinian has insisted in recent weeks that he has not abandoned his efforts to oust Garegin II despite a backlash from opposition groups and other supporters of the Catholicos. In a July 20 appeal, the premier urged supporters to be ready to “free” the Mother See from Garegin.
Opposition leaders have warned Pashinian against trying to seize the seat of the Catholicos. They have also told their own supporters to be ready to gather at the Mother See in support of Garegin.