First court hearing on Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan case to take  place on Aug 15

ArmInfo. The first court hearing on the case of the arrested head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, will take  place on August 15. This was reported on the Datalex judicial and  legal information website.

The case will be heard by Judge Armine Meliksetyan.

"Gevorg /Mikael/ Artashes Ajapayan is accused of having the spiritual  rank of an archbishop and being the leader of the Shirak Diocese of  the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, regularly making public speeches  in the media, having a large number of followers and, therefore, also  having a significant opportunity to direct the behavior of members of  society with his words, disagreeing with the positions of the RA  government on domestic and foreign policy issues, using the media,  information and communication technologies, first on February 3,  2024, and then on June 21, 2025, in an interview with media  representatives, publicly calling for the seizure of power," the  summary of the essence of the charges says.

Ajapayan has been in custody since June 28. On July 28, the  Investigative Committee reported that during the preliminary  investigation of the criminal case, obvious factual data were  obtained that M.A. in an interview with one of the news channels, he  stated that he had repeatedly proposed to 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," the  statement said. Public criminal prosecution was initiated against  M.A. under Part 2 of Article 422 of the Criminal Code (public calls  aimed at seizing power, violating territorial integrity, renunciation  of sovereignty or violently overthrowing the constitutional order).

On July 30, the Court of Appeals rejected the defense's appeal to  change the measure of restraint against the archbishop.

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