Investigative Committee sends Mikael Ajapaghyan case to prosecutor

ArmInfo. The Investigative  Committee of Armenia has completed the preliminary investigation of  the criminal case against the head of the Shitrak Diocese of the  Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) Mikael Ajapakhyan.

According to the Investigative Committee, during the preliminary  investigation of the criminal case, obvious factual data was obtained  that M.A. stated in an interview with one of the news channels that  he had repeatedly offered two former presidents of the Republic of  Armenia to carry out a military coup through generals who held  similar positions in the army, police and national security agencies.   'Thus, M.A., using the media, made public calls aimed at seizing  power and violently overthrowing the constitutional order.

With respect to M.A. a public criminal prosecution was initiated  under Part 2 of Article 422 of the Criminal Code (public calls aimed  at seizing power, violating territorial integrity, renunciation of  sovereignty or violent overthrow of the constitutional order).

Arrest was chosen as a preventive measure against the latter.

The criminal case against M.A. was sent with the indictment to the  supervising prosecutor with a motion to approve it and send it to  court for consideration on the merits>, the report says.

The escalation of the government's campaign against the Armenian  Apostolic Church was launched on May 29 at a government meeting, when  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said that Armenian churches resemble  "closets filled with junk." The next day, he published a harsh post  on social media, in which he used rude language against the hierarchs  of the AAC and accused one of the archbishops of sexual promiscuity.  At the same time, the prime minister demanded that all priests,  including the Catholicos of All Armenians, who violated their vow of  celibacy be defrocked. Similar attacks were made by the prime  minister's wife Anna Hakobyan, who called the patriarch "the main  mafioso" and those who criticized the "silencing" of churches - "the  main pedophiles of the country." Amid the scandal, the prime minister  proposed changing the procedure for electing the head of the AAC so  that the state would have a decisive vote in the elections, and  candidates would undergo an ethics check. 

During the anti-church campaign, the authorities arrested two  archbishops - Bagrat Galstanyan, on charges of "preparing terrorist  acts and mass riots, attempting to seize power", and the head of the  Shirak diocese, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan - for calls to seize  power and violently overthrow the constitutional order using the  media, information and communication technologies. Moreover, in order  to detain the latter, the NSS special forces entered the territory of  Holy Echmiadzin, where a meeting of priests was taking place, but  they were prevented from detaining Ajapakhyan by representatives of  the clergy and believers.  Ajapakhyan independently arrived at the  Investigative Committee in Yerevan, where he was detained and then  arrested for 2 months. Galstanyan and Ajapakhyan are being held in  the NSS building, the "Yerevan- Kentron" penitentiary.

On July 20, Pashinyan called on social media to be ready to overthrow  Katokikos Karekin II. "Get ready for the Great Spiritual Meeting in  the central square of Echmiadzin," he wrote on social media.