Christian Solidarity International  releases new report on   persecution of  Armenian Church.

ArmInfo.As European leaders gather i of prominent political prisoners in Armenia. "Not since the worst days of Soviet rule has the Armenian Apostolic Church faced state-sponsored persecution of suchn Yerevan for the first EU-Armenia summit, the human rights group is publishing a list depth and intensity,"  states a new report published today by Christian Solidarity  International (CSI).

The report includes a list of prominent political prisoners in  Armenia—the first of its kind published by an international human  rights group.  The report was authored by Peter Fuchs, an  international lawyer and historian specializing in religious freedom  in Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, and the Caucasus. The report is  based on the findings of his recent research mission to Armenia.  Combining legal analysis with historical context, the report details  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's attempts to "subordinate the Church  to state control."

The political prisoners mentioned in the report include clergy, their  relatives, podcasters, church workers, and others detained by  Armenian authorities during the campaign against the Church. The list  of political prisoners was compiled by CSI in consultation with the  Armenian Center for Political Rights.

The release of the report coincides with the visit of European  leaders to Yerevan: the 8th European Political Community Summit is  taking place there on May 4, and the first-ever EU-Armenia Summit on  May 5.

"European leaders attending well-organized political events in  central Yerevan should be aware that they are just minutes away from  the prison where Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is being held on  trumped-up charges," said Dr. Joel Veldkamp, CSI's Director of Public  Affairs.

Since May 2025, Prime Minister Pashinyan has been waging a public  campaign to force the resignation of the head of the Armenian  Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II. According to the report,  Pashinyan's government has arrested three Armenian archbishops,  imposed travel bans on the Catholicos and other high-ranking church  leaders, and attempted to provoke a schism within the church.

On March 12, 2026, the International Observatory for Democracy in  Armenia (a watchdog group led by Kenneth Roth, former executive  director of Human Rights Watch) issued a warning about democratic  backsliding in Armenia, including "the government's apparent  weaponization of the judiciary and security forces against political  opponents."

The government's campaign against the church began in May 2025, after  the Catholicos spoke at a conference in Switzerland organized by the  World Council of Churches. There, the Catholicos publicly defended  Armenian refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh, a region subjected to ethnic  cleansing by Azerbaijan in 2023, and called for their right to return  to their homes.

Pashinyan made signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan the centerpiece  of his national platform and called discussions of refugees' right of  return "dangerous" for peace. In his speech to the European  Parliament in March, he accused church leaders of seeking to start a  new war with Azerbaijan.

In the introduction to the report, CSI President John Eibner argues  that the Pashinyan government's campaign against the Church should be  seen as part of Turkey and Azerbaijan's efforts to "weaken the  Armenian nation and deprive it of the ability to resist subjugation  and integration into the emerging Turkish-led regional order."

"Today, the Armenian Apostolic Church, more than any other Armenian  institution, is an obstacle to the plans of Turkey and Azerbaijan,"  Eibner states.

The report concludes with a series of formal CSI recommendations for  European and American policymakers. These include: publicly  reaffirming the right of the Armenian Church to choose its leaders  without state interference; calling on the Armenian government to  release detained clergy and other political prisoners; and engaging  with independent human rights groups in Armenia. The Swiss  Parliament's support for the Nagorno-Karabakh Peace Initiative.

"Now is the moment for principled and coordinated action," Fuchs  concludes in the report. "Armenia's security and prosperity will not  be enhanced by subordinating the Armenian Apostolic Church. On the  contrary, they depend on protecting the fundamental rights of all  Armenians, as well as their national church."

It should be noted that Christian Solidarity International (CSI) is  an interdenominational Christian advocacy group advocating for  religious freedom and human dignity. It assists victims of religious  persecution, child victims, and disaster victims. CSI is a  non-governmental organization in consultative status with the UN  Economic and Social Council. The organization was founded in  Switzerland in 1977 by Pastor Hans Stuckelberger and operates in more  than 20 countries.