Lawyer: Administrative Court upholds Masiatsotni Diocese priest`s claim against the Enforcement Service

ArmInfo. The Administrative Court has upheld the claim of Ter Abraham Martirosyan, a priest of the Masiatsotn Diocese, against the Enforcement Service. This was reported on the Facebook page by lawyer Ara Zohrabyan.

He recalled that earlier, as part of the enforcement action applied by Judge Edgar Hovhannisyan at the request of the former Primate of the Masiatsotn Diocese, Arman Saroyan, the bailiff ordered Ter Abraham Martirosyan, a priest of the diocese, to sign a document facilitating the banking operations carried out by Saroyan.    Ter Abraham reasonably refused to commit illegal actions and appealed to the court.  Today, the Administrative Court of Armenia upheld his claim against the Compulsory Enforcement Service," the lawyer said.

In particular, as Zohrabyan noted, the court invalidated the Compulsory Enforcement Service's decision of May 29, 2026, which imposed on Ter Abraham Martirosyan the obligation to perform certain actions at Ardshinbank. According to him, the court concluded that imposing such obligations on Ter Abraham Martirosyan was an exercise of authority not provided for by law.

"This judicial decision is important not only for this specific case. It confirms the fundamental principle: a state body cannot create new obligations for an individual based solely on its own interpretation." "Coercion against a person may only be applied if there are legal grounds clearly provided for by the Constitution and the law," the lawyer emphasized.

As a reminder, by order of His Holiness Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II on January 10, Arman Saroyan (formerly Bishop Gevork - ed.) was dismissed from his post as head of the Masiatsotn Diocese. On January 27, he was defrocked for challenging this decision in court and failing to comply with the order. Ruben Zargaryan was subsequently appointed head of the diocese. The court later ordered Saroyan's reinstatement as head of the diocese. On May 11, 2026, Zohrabyan announced that the defrocked Bishop Arman Saroyan continued to conduct transactions with bank accounts belonging to the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC).