Overview
- Archbishop Natan Hovhannisyan was invited and briefly questioned by Armenia’s Investigative Committee, local outlet ArmLur.am reported, following the publication of a recorded call attributed to him and a former cleric.
- Investigators opened a criminal case based on possible coercion or obstruction related to participation in assemblies, and Hovhannisyan reportedly declined to comment on the allegedly illicit recording.
- A Yerevan court earlier sentenced Archbishop Mikael Adzhapakhyan to two years for alleged calls to seize power, and prosecutors have appealed seeking two years and six months.
- Adzhapakhyan’s defense argues the appeal was rushed to influence the selection of appellate judges and accelerate a harsher ruling.
- Recent detentions include Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan and priest Garegin Arsenyan, as well as earlier arrests of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and patron Karapetyan, in a confrontation that intensified after Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attacked the church and proposed changing the catholicos election process.