Overview
- The Investigative Committee opened a public criminal prosecution for illegal sale of narcotics by a group by prior agreement at a place of spectacle, according to spokesperson Kima Avdalyan.
- Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, who heads the chancery of Holy Etchmiadzin, was detained in connection with the case.
- Defense lawyer Arsen Babayan said National Security Service officers detained Khachatryan inside the Investigative Committee building.
- Babayan later wrote that the accusation relates to an alleged 2018 incident of planting drugs to discredit a protester, a claim not independently verified.
- The detention follows days of partisan postings of a compromising video and a bishops’ letter accusing the catholicos of shielding Khachatryan and asserting a forensic confirmation of the video’s authenticity that has not been corroborated.