Catholicos of All Armenians and Supreme Spiritual Council members to  be acquitted due to absence of corpus delicti - conclusion

ArmInfo. Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II and the clergy of the Supreme Spiritual Council are to be acquitted in the criminal case initiated by the Armenian  authorities due to the lack of evidence of criminal illegality of the  act or due to the lack of proof of the factual circumstances imputed  to them.

This is stated in an amicus curiae ("friend of the court")  opinion prepared at the initiative of a group of specialists in  criminal procedure. The opinion was prepared by Artur Gambaryan,  Doctor of Law, Professor, and Honored Lawyer of the Republic of  Armenia; Artak Ghazaryan, Candidate of Law; Zorayr Harutyunyan,  Candidate of Law; and Grigor Chapanyan, PhD candidate in the  Department of Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure Law at the  Russian-Armenian University.

The conclusion, published on the Armenian Church of Moscow's Facebook  page, states that, given the widespread public outcry over the  criminal prosecution of the Catholicos of All Armenians and the  clerical members of the Supreme Spiritual Council, as well as its  exceptional historical significance for the Armenian people and the  Holy Armenian Apostolic Church, at the initiative of a group of  criminal justice specialists, we prepared and presented an amicus  curiae brief on this case to the Supreme Patriarch and the judge.

It is emphasized that the brief was prepared solely on the basis of  legal analysis, without political or other judgments, and is aimed at  facilitating the administration of justice. "Thus, firstly, the act  of 'defrocking' is not criminally illegal. It is regulated  exclusively by ecclesiastical canon law and is outside the scope of  state positive law.

Secondly, initiating criminal prosecution against the Catholicos of  All Armenians and other clergy for defrocking constitutes criminal  interference in the internal affairs of the Church and violates the  principles of separation of state and church guaranteed by the  Constitution and international law, as well as the autonomy of  religious organizations (Articles 17 and 41 of the Constitution of  the Republic of Armenia, Article 9 of the European Convention on  Human Rights, the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, and  the positions of the Venice Commission)," the prepared document  states.

Third, according to the authors of the opinion, the act imputed to  the clerical members of the Supreme Spiritual Council lacks the  objective element of a crime, that is, a specific act. They submitted  a proposal for defrocking, which is not a final decision.

"Fourth, the initiation of prosecution in this case violated the  requirements of legal certainty and predictability: the judicial act  applying the interim measure did not expressly prohibit defrocking,  and such a prohibition could not be inferred by interpreting the  judicial act under the rule intra legem analogia (within the law).  Consequently, the limits of criminal liability were determined only  subsequently, which contradicts the principles of certainty and  legality of criminal law," the opinion continues.

Fifth, the opinion draws attention to an alternative argument and  states that even with the formal elements of a crime, the act imputed  in this case is insignificant (Part 2 of Article 16 of the Criminal  Code of the Republic of Armenia). It is noted that after his  defrocking, Arman Saroyan effectively continued his activities as the  primate of the diocese, wearing the episcopal vestments and occupying  the office of the primate. Moreover, the state continued to recognize  him as a high-ranking representative of the Church: by Decision No.  251-A of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, Arman  (formerly Bishop Gevorg) Saroyan was included in the Advisory  Commission on Pardons as a representative of the Armenian Apostolic  Holy Church.

"This circumstance clearly demonstrates that the act did not obstruct  the normal administration of justice and, therefore, from the  standpoint of the constitutional principle of proportionality, cannot  serve as grounds for criminal liability. Based on the above, we  emphasize that the Catholicos of All Armenians and the clergy of the  Supreme Spiritual Council are subject to acquittal due to the lack of  evidence of the criminal unlawfulness of the act or due to the  failure to prove the factual circumstances imputed to them," the  legal experts concluded in their prepared opinion. It should be noted  that since May 2025, the Armenian authorities have been actively  pursuing an anti-church policy and are seeking the resignation of  Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II, who is elected to this  position for life. This campaign has targeted both clergy and  citizens who support the Church. It should be noted that, according  to the Constitution, Armenia is a secular state, where church and  state are separated. At the same time, the "exceptional mission" of  the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) in preserving national identity  is recognized.

Furthermore, as was reported on August 19, the issue of removing the  Catholicos is included in the Pashinyan government's program for  2026-2031.