Armenian clergymen summoned to Investigative Committee

Panorama

Eight clerics from the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin and the Aragatsotn Diocese have been summoned to Armenia’s Investigative Committee as witnesses, lawyer Marine Farmanyan told Panorama.am on Wednesday.

Farmanyan said the summons is apparently linked to the case involving a leaked audio recording of Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, head of the church’s External Relations Department. The case remains under preliminary investigation and the archbishop has been questioned twice.

Earlier in October, pro-government media outlets released a 2023 recording allegedly between Hovhannisyan and former aide Aghan Yernjakyan, who claimed Catholicos Karekin II told him to attend anti-government rallies. The Mother See condemned the leak as a violation of privacy and called for an adequate legal response.