Lawyer: First court hearing in case against Catholicos of All  Armenians set for August 7

ArmInfo.The first preliminary court hearing in the criminal case against Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II is scheduled for 4:00 PM on August 7 and  will take place in Etchmiadzin (15 St. Gregory the Illuminator  Street, Courtroom 1). Lawyer Ara Zohrabyan announced this on his  Facebook page.

He noted that the criminal case against Catholicos of All Armenians  Karekin II and six bishops has been transferred to the Court of  General Jurisdiction of First Instance of the Armavir Region and  assigned to Judge Hakob Manukyan. "The Catholicos of All Armenians is  accused of using his official powers, as Chairman of the Supreme  Spiritual Council, to obstruct the execution of a final and binding  judicial decision—the decision of the Armavir Regional Court of  General Jurisdiction, chaired by Judge Edgar Hovhannisyan, 'On  Granting the Petition for an Interim Measure in a Claim,'" the lawyer  recalled.

Such obstruction, Zohrabyan noted, was deemed to be the directive  issued by the Catholicos of All Armenians stripping Arman Saroyan of  his clerical rank as the former primate of the Masiatsotn Diocese of  the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC). "In a state that, in accordance  with international and national legislation, is obligated not to  interfere in the internal affairs of the AAC, the authorities have  designated the Catholicos of All Armenians as an accused party for  exercising ecclesiastical functions. This is a historically shameful  event. Over the past hundred years, this is only the second time that  the authorities have made the Catholicos of All Armenians the target  of criminal prosecution or coercive pressure," the lawyer pointed  out.

The first such case, according to him, involved Catholicos of All  Armenians Khoren I Muradbekyan. Then, as Zohrabyan noted, during the  years of Soviet anti-church repression, he acted under unprecedented  pressure, and on April 6, 1938, state security agents strangled  Khoren I Muradbekyan. Similarly, the lawyer continued, the actions  taken against the Armenian Apostolic Church since 2018 have created a  pattern of continuous state pressure on the Church. Among them, as  the lawyer recalled, are: the revocation of bishops' diplomatic  passports (2018); Termination of state police protection accompanying  the Catholicos of All Armenians (2020); exclusion of the subject  "History of the Armenian Church" from the separate general education  curriculum (2020); termination of the spiritual ministry of the  Armenian Apostolic Holy Church in penal institutions (2024);  significant limitation of the institutional presence of the Church in  the Armed Forces and the de facto exclusion of the Armenian Apostolic  Holy Church from the army (2024- 2025).

"Furthermore, attempts to edit the texts of the 'holy and immortal  liturgies' (2025-2026); the launch of public political initiatives  aimed at replacing the Catholicos of All Armenians and terminating  his powers (2025-2026); criminal prosecution and the imposition of  restrictive measures against high-ranking clergy (2025-2026); and now  the criminal prosecution of the Catholicos of All Armenians and six  bishops (2026)," Zohrabyan added.

He also noted that, regardless of political views and legal  assessments, it is clear that the Armenian Apostolic Church and the  institution of the Catholicos of All Armenians are among the  fundamental pillars of Armenia's history, national identity, and  statehood. "For this reason, any processes unfolding around them go  beyond the scope of a single criminal case and have historical,  constitutional, and national significance. History shows that  pressure on the Church and its leaders has never been directed solely  at a specific individual. It has always also had an impact on  national unity, public trust, and the foundations of statehood. It is  sad that the entire Armenian people will have to bear responsibility  for the actions of the current authorities," Zohrabyan concluded.