Аuthorities saw no criminal act in Archbishop Ajapahyan’s 2024 remarks

PanARMENIAN.Net – Daniel Ioannisyan, Program Coordinator at the Union of Informed Citizens NGO, wrote in a Facebook post that last year the Prosecutor’s Office and the National Security Service (NSS) had stated there was no legal basis to initiate proceedings against Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan for his interview, citing the absence of any action “that could reasonably be given a preliminary legal assessment as a criminal offense under the Armenian Criminal Code.”

“We submitted a report about Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan’s call for a military coup last year. At that time, we were denied, being told there was no crime. Now they claim there is,” he wrote.

“With this level of independence in the judicial and law enforcement systems, we won’t get far. A criminal prosecution against Ajapahyan should have been initiated when he made those remarks—not now, when the authorities have turned their attention to some clergy members.”

“We will hand over these documents to Ajapahyan’s defenders so they can use them to support the argument that this prosecution is politically motivated,” Ioannisyan wrote. “It doesn’t matter how I personally feel about someone—truth must be told.”

On the morning of June 27, around 30 masked individuals stormed the headquarters of the Shirak Diocese. Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan was not there; he was in the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin for a scheduled clergy meeting. The NSS entered the premises to detain Ajapahyan. Although the Archbishop agreed to cooperate, a scuffle ensued, and he left with the Catholicos to the Catholicosate. Later, he appeared before the Investigative Committee and was remanded for two months in jail by court order.

Ajapahyan is being prosecuted under an article concerning public calls to seize power, violate territorial integrity, renounce sovereignty, or overthrow constitutional order by force.