Armenian Church hierarch in pre-trial detention was transferred to house arrest

The Armenian Court of Appeals has decided to place Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), under house arrest. Earlier, the cleric was sentenced to two years in prison for publicly calling for the seizure of power in the country.

According to TASS, citing the presiding judge of the Court of Appeal Edgar Manasyan, the court granted the defense’s motion to change the preventive measure for Mikael Ajapakhyan. House arrest was chosen as an alternative preventive measure.

According to Sputnik Armenia, the Archbishop is ordered to serve house arrest at his place of residence in Gyumri. In case of need for inpatient treatment, he will be able to stay in a medical center. There are restrictions on meetings with the Archbishop: close relatives, lawyers, one priest of the Shirak Diocese, one employee of the administrative and economic department of the Diocese, as well as medical personnel are excluded.

Lawyer Ara Zohrabyan expressed the opinion that the transfer of Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan to house arrest from the detention center is the result of a political decision. Earlier, a court in Yerevan found the Archbishop guilty of public calls to overthrow the authorities in Armenia and sentenced him to a two-year prison term.

This development comes against the backdrop of growing tensions between the Armenian state authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Recent months have seen repeated arrests and extensions of detention of other high-ranking clerics, such as Archbishops Arshak Khachatryan and Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan. The situation is aggravated by rallies in support of the AAC, legislative initiatives potentially limiting the rights of the Church, as well as internal disagreements and discussions around the figure of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.

We would like to remind that earlier we reported that the Armenian authorities are making attempts to prevent Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II and members of the Supreme Spiritual Council from traveling to the Council of Bishops scheduled for February 16-19 in Austria. This was stated by lawyer Ruben Melikyan, commenting on the new criminal case against the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC).