Robert Amsterdam slams Armenian archbishop’s arrest
Panorama
International human rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam has condemned the arrest of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, calling it politically motivated.
“I have had the honor of personally meeting this servant of Christ. I am outraged by the conduct of an unlaw-abiding government which, instead of protecting the faithful, arrests community leaders out of pettiness, insecurity and fear of the will of the people,” he wrote on Thursday.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee said Khachatryan was taken into custody on drug-related charges.
According to his lawyer, Arsen Babayan, the cleric is accused of having one of his aides plant drugs in the backpack of a protester who demanded Catholicos Karekin II’s resignation in 2018.
The lawyer dismissed the charge as absurd, saying it is aimed at discrediting Khachatryan as part of the Armenian leadership’s anti-church campaign.
