Archbishop Ajapahian arrested for two months

A Yerevan court has chosen a preventive measure for the head of the Shirak Diocese, Mikael Ajapakhyan, who is accused of calling for the seizure of power. The archbishop's lawyers called the accusation unfounded.

As "Kavkazsky Uzel" reported, on June 27, security forces detained the head of the Shirak Diocese, Mikael Ajapakhyan, who voluntarily came to the Investigative Committee. He is charged under Part 2 of Article 422 of the Criminal Code 1, providing for from two to five years of imprisonment. The Archbishop denied the accusation.

A court in Yerevan today granted the investigation's motion and arrested Mikael Ajapakhyan, his lawyer Ara Zohrabyan said.

The court also restricted the archbishop's communication, allowing contacts only with close relatives and lawyers. According to the lawyer, the defense has 10 days to file an appeal, and it will be filed when the defense receives the court's full decision, Novosti-Armenia writes.

There is no crime in this case. No action was prepared

The defense considers the charges unfounded. "Ajapakhyan did not call anyone, but told his interlocutor what is allegedly presented as a call. There is no crime in this case. No actions were prepared, these were unaddressed words that had no consequences. Now they are initiating criminal prosecution for the words voiced in 2024. We have qualified this as a punitive action," News.am quotes Ajapakhyan's lawyer as saying today.

However, according to the prosecutor's office, the basis for the criminal case was Mikael Ajapakhyan's interview given on June 21, 2025. In it, as the department claims, he confirmed the statement made on February 3, 2024, about the need for a coup d'etat.

"The said statements are not emotional statements or made out of carelessness, but represent conscious actions committed consistently and systematically using the media and information and communication technologies," Aysor.am quotes the prosecutor's office as saying today.

I called for a coup - this is not a call for seizure

As the publication writes, on February 3, 2024, in an interview with Gala TV, Mikael Ajapakhyan said that he knows "only three ways to change power." "The first is elections, supposedly elections. The second is a coup. The third is a popular uprising. Are there more? No. But all three are impossible. Subjectively, they are impossible, objectively, they are possible. Hasn't it been clear from my activities over the past six years - just these six years - what I am talking about? How many times have I openly said that a military coup is needed. I said this during the war, I told the presidents - both [Robert] Kocharyan and Serzh [Sargsyan]," the publication quoted the archbishop as saying.

In an interview on June 21, 2025, the archbishop emphasized that he had never called for the seizure of power. "I called for a coup — this is not a call for seizure. I called for a coup. I told the security forces: save the country, save it from this madman. But they do not save it, and thus they themselves are to blame for what is happening. I did not call for the seizure of power. I said that it is necessary. This is not a call — it is a necessity," the publication provides a translation of his words into Russian.

12:57 27.06.2025

The main thing about political arrests in Armenia in June 2025

In June 2025, a series of arrests of political opponents of the current government took place in Armenia. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that the opposition was preparing a coup d'etat in the country.

Recall that on June 25, security forces conducted more than 90 searches in the case of preparing to seize power in Armenia. By a court decision, the leader of the Sacred Struggle movement, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and 14 other people were taken into custody. A day earlier, on June 24, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced that a coup had been prevented and published a document with the text of the opposition's alleged plan to remove him from power.

In 2024, Bagrat Galstanyan led the Tavush for the Motherland movement (later renamed Sacred Struggle), which protested against the transfer of border territories to Azerbaijan. In May of the same year, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhian participated in a protest march of residents of the Shirak region who demanded an end to the border delimitation.

The standoff between the Armenian authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church intensified in 2020 amid the 44-day Karabakh war and the authorities' desire to improve relations with Turkey. It escalated in late May 2025, when Pashinyan publicly criticized the Armenian Apostolic Church and its representatives and called for the election of a new Catholicos of All Armenians.