Archbishop Arshak Khachatrian was arrested in early December on a drug-related charge rejected by him as politically motivated. A figure close to the supreme head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Khachatrian heads the Chancellery of the church’s Mother See in Echmiadzin. The Investigative Committee claims that he had one of his aides plant a marijuana joint in the backpack of a protester who demanded Garegin’s resignation in 2018.
The joint was reportedly for years kept at the Investigative Committee division in Armenia’s Armavir province. The Yerevan daily Hraparak reported last week that the division has lost it in unclear circumstances.
A committee spokeswoman pointedly declined to refute or confirm the report picked up by other media outlets. Nor would she say if an internal inquiry has been launched into the reported loss.
Khachatrian’s lawyer, Arsen Babayan, likewise could not confirm the information. Still, he said the investigators’ official reaction to it suggests that “there is a problem.” Babayan suggested that they will not drop the high-profile case against the archbishop even if they are left without any incriminating evidence.
“If the authorities have not decided to stop the political persecution of His Eminence Arshak — and it looks like they haven’t — and send the case to court, then the investigation will continue in the courtroom,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The lawyer charged earlier that the “political” accusation levelled against his client is aimed at discrediting him as part of Pashinian’s broader campaign against Garegin.
Khachatrian was the fourth senior clergyman loyal to Garegin arrested in nearly six months. The Investigative Committee first arrested Archbishop Bagrat Galstanian June 25 the day before Pashinian threatened to forcibly remove the Catholicos from his Echmiadzin headquarters. Galastanian and his 17 supporters are now standing trial on coup charges denied by them.
Another outspoken archbishop, Mikael Ajapahian, was arrested on June 27 and subsequently sentenced to two years in prison on charges of calling for a violent regime change. The crackdown continued with the arrest later in October of Bishop Mkrtich Proshian, who is also Garegin’s nephew. Proshian, who went on trial on Monday, denies forcing his subordinates to attend opposition rallies held in the run-up to 2021 parliamentary elections.
