On October 3, Yerevan judge Armine Meliksetyan sentenced Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, who headed the Shirak diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church before his arrest, to two years in prison. He was found guilty under Part 2 of Article 422 of Armenia’s Criminal Code on public calls to seize power. The ruling has not yet taken legal effect and may be appealed.
The case was based on statements Ajapahyan made in autumn 2023 after the loss of Nagorno-Karabakh. In a video address, he called on generals to stage a coup and overthrow Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The archbishop says that later the security services offered to drop the case if he deleted the videos and backed a campaign against Catholicos Garegin II.
On June 27, officers of the National Security Service arrived in Echmiadzin, where the cleric was staying, while searches were also carried out in Gyumri. The next day Ajapahyan went to the Investigative Committee himself and was then arrested. Afterward, Garegin II appointed Bishop Narek Avakyan as acting head of the Shirak diocese.
At the same time, another archbishop, Bagrat Galstanyan, is standing trial in Yerevan. He led the radical protest movement in 2024 and was nominated by the opposition for prime minister. After searches on June 25 and the detention of 16 activists, he faced more serious charges, including preparing a terrorist attack and organizing mass unrest aimed at overthrowing the constitutional order.
According to the article, the cases against the two archbishops are part of a broader confrontation between Pashinyan’s government and the leadership of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which is linked to a conservative and pro-Russian opposition camp. Against this backdrop, the prime minister has publicly attacked Garegin II and spoken of replacing the catholicos, while Echmiadzin has described the proceedings as lawlessness.