Investigators reportedly searched the headquarters of Bishop Mkrtich Proshian, who heads the church diocese in Armenia’s central Aragatsotn province, and the homes of the other suspects subordinate to him early in the morning before making the arrests also condemned by opposition leaders.
The whereabouts of Proshian and two other priests remained unknown until late afternoon, with the Investigative Committee refusing to say where they are being held. The other suspects were taken to the law-enforcement agency’s Yerevan department.
According to lawyers appointed by the church to represent them, they were questioned as witnesses in the criminal case. The lawyers also said in the afternoon that they are being illegally denied access to their clients.
They were allowed to visit Proshian in custody afterwards. One of the lawyers, Ara Zohrabian, said the Investigative Committee has formally indicted the bishop and will ask a court to place him under pre-trial arrest.
“The accusations levelled against him are fabricated,” Zohrabian told reporters.
The status of the 12 other priests remained unclear. Only one of them, Father Paren Arakelian, was known to have been released without charge in the evening.
The case stems from another Aragatsotn priest’s recent allegations that he was forced to attend opposition rallies held in 2021. The priest, Farther Aram Asatrian, made them last month as he accused unnamed senior clergymen of corruption and indecent behavior in statements widely construed as a show of support for Pashinian’s efforts to depose the church’s supreme head, Catholicos Garegin II, and other senior clergymen.
Pashinian accused them of having had secret sex affairs in breach of their vows of celibacy in late May before demanding Garegin’s resignation. The prime minister’s detractors say he is simply trying to punish the Catholicos for his strong opposition to his unilateral concessions to Azerbaijan, whose top Shia Muslim cleric has repeatedly condemned the Armenian Church in recent months.
Pashinian threatened to forcibly remove Catholicos Garegin II from his Echmiadzin headquarters on June 26 the day after Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian and 15 of his supporters were arrested on coup charges strongly denied by them. Another archbishop very critical of Pashinian, Mikael Ajapahian, was arrested on June 27 for allegedly calling for a violent regime change. Ajapahian was sentenced to two years in prison on October 3 in a trial strongly condemned by the church and the Armenian opposition.
A church spokesman, Father Yesayi Artenian, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service that the latest arrests are also part of Pashinian’s is “campaign against the church.” Bishop Proshian is a nephew of Garegin.
Later in the day, the church’s Mother See likewise condemned the “illegal” crackdown as “another manifestation of the systematic anti-church campaign instigated by the authorities.”
“Such reprehensible actions clearly demonstrate a malicious intent to disrupt the normal functioning of the Church, to damage the Church's reputation, and to spread an atmosphere of fear and anxiety among clergy, believers, and the wider community,” it said in a statement.
“It is not possible to suppress spiritual ministers and the faithful through intrigues, threats, and repression,” added the statement.
The arrests also drew strong condemnation from leaders of the country’s main opposition groups and other critics of Pashinian.
“As always, Nikol Pashinian’s political persecution and Azerbaijani statements against the Armenian Church, go hand in hand today: just a few days ago, the spiritual leader of Azerbaijan made hostile statements and provocative, unfounded accusations against the Armenian Church,” said Arman Tatoyan, a former human rights ombudsman.
The case was ostensibly opened in response to a “crime report” filed by Daniel Ioannisian, a civic activist leading a Western-funded nongovernmental organization. Ioannisian in turn cited the dissident priest’s allegations made in a September 16 interview with state television.
Ioannisian, who is regarded by government critics as a Pashinian ally, insisted that he did not coordinate with the authorities.
“We are not part of any campaign,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Forcing people to participate in a rally is a crime Armenia, and the state must fight against all such manifestations.”
Archbishop Ajapahian was also arrested and prosecuted after Ioannisian formally alerted the Investigative Committee about his statements which the authorities say constituted calls for a violent overthrow of the government.
Pashinian’s campaign has prompted concern from the World Council of Churches (WCC), a Switzerland-based organization uniting 352 Orthodox and Protestant churches. In a July statement, the WCC called on the Armenian government to “refrain from actions or statements” undermining “the principles of religious freedom, due process, and the peaceful exercise of faith.”