Ara Zohrabyan: In the near future, the issue of holding three  Armenian judges  accountable for  violating the autonomy of the  Armenian Apostolic Church  will be raised

ArmInfo. The actions of the judges who ordered the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) to  reinstate defrocked clergymen Stepan Asatryan (formerly Father Ter  Aram, spiritual pastor of Hovhannavank) and Aramayis Tahmazyan  (formerly Father Tade, spiritual pastor of Talin) are subject to  criminal prosecution, and this issue will be raised soon.

Ara Zohrabyan wrote this on his Facebook page,in response to the court's  ruling of February 17. "The issue of bringing criminal charges  against Hovhannes Melkonyan, Chairman of the Armavir Regional Court  of First Instance, Sima Abovyan, Judge of the Armavir Regional Court  of General Jurisdiction, and Edgar Hovhannisyan, Judge and member of  the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), will be raised in the near  future," the lawyer stated.

Zohrabyan emphasized that the actions of these judges fall under  Article 482 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, according to which  judges acting in their personal interests, other interests, or the  interests of a group and deliberately rendering an unfair verdict,  decision, or other judicial act can be punished with imprisonment for  a term of one to four years. 

"Hovhannes Melkonyan and Sima Abovyan, when reviewing the cases of  defrocked clergymen Stepan Asatryan and Aramayis Tahmazyan, issued  decisions with virtually identical text, which also indicates that  these judges acted in the interests of the group. All three judges  grossly violated both the Constitution and the laws 'On Relations of  the Republic of Armenia with the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church' and  'On Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations.' According to  these norms, the Republic of Armenia recognizes the self-governance  of the Armenian Apostolic Church within its hierarchy, and the state  does not interfere in the internal affairs of the Church," the lawyer  recalled.

Zohrabyan added that the state, through its executive or judicial  branches, has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the  Armenian Church by making decisions on the ordination, removal,  appointment, or dismissal of clergy. "Judges Sima Abovyan and  Hovhannes Melkonyan ordered the Armenian Apostolic Church and others  to fully and unimpededly ensure the continued tenure of Stepan  Asatryan and Aramayis Takhmazyan as Spiritual Pastors. Meanwhile,  according to church canons, praying with a defrocked clergyman is  grounds for the clergyman's removal," the lawyer noted.

He stated that while the issue of the legal liability of these judges  is clear, another arises: do they fear spiritual liability, since  these judges ascribe to themselves powers that only the anointed and  spiritually empowered Catholicos of All Armenians possesses. "Can you  imagine how many sacred rituals Stepan Asatryan and Aramayis  Takhmazyan, who lack clerical status, will perform, and how many  people they could entice into sin? The judges' actions are tantamount  to sacrilege in the spiritual realm. They have issued rulings in an  area that does not concern them, and they have made decisions that  are impossible to implement. If, for example, the judges had decided  that from now on the sun should rise from the west, that decision  would also be impossible to implement," the lawyer concluded.

Recall, on February 6, defrocked clergymen Aramayis Takhmazyan and  Stepan Asatryan filed a lawsuit against the Armenian Apostolic Church  (AAC), demanding that the decision of Catholicos of All Armenians  Karekin II to depose them be declared invalid and that they be  reinstated in their former positions.