Criminal prosecution of Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan must be terminated by  court decision - lawyer 

ArmInfo. The criminal prosecution of Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan, Primate of the Gougark Diocese  of the Armenian Apostolic Church, must be terminated, stated lawyer  Armine Fanyan. 

The lawyer reported that on July 17, she received a decision from  Judge Ani Danielyan confirming the violation of Bishop Hovnan  Hakobyan's rights. "Specifically, by upholding the complaint, the  Court found that the period of public criminal prosecution of Bishop  Hovnan was suspended without proper justification of the necessary  exceptional grounds for doing so, as a result of which the rights to  a lawful and reasoned procedural act, an effective judicial defense,  and a resolution of the prosecution's case within a reasonable time  were violated," the lawyer wrote on her Facebook page.

Let us recall that Hovnan Hakobyan, a member of the Supreme Spiritual  Council of the Armenian Apostolic Church, was among the accused in  the case of the defrocked Arman (Gevorg) Saroyan, who previously  headed the Masiatsotn Diocese and was defrocked by the Catholicos of  All Armenians.