Armenian court to consider changing Galstanyan's preventive measure

An Armenian court will consider the issue of changing the preventive measure for Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and his supporters, who are currently under arrest, on Wednesday, lawyer Ruben Melikyan said.

"The second court hearing on the criminal case against Bishop Bagrat and the other 17 worthy citizens will take place on August 20. Among other things, the issue of preventive measures will also be considered," the lawyer wrote on Facebook *.

At the end of June, Archbishop Bagrat, who is a political opponent of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and 17 of his supporters were arrested in Armenia as part of a criminal case on an attempt to "seize power." The archbishop's lawyer, Sergei Harutyunyan, said that his client was charged with terrorism, riots, and usurpation of power. He called the charges ridiculous and the trial itself political persecution.

Earlier, the Investigative Committee reported that a criminal case had been opened against 18 people under articles on preparation for terrorism and usurpation of power. Seventeen defendants were arrested, administrative supervision and a written undertaking not to leave were applied to one.

Last week, Archbishop Bagrat's lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan stated that the audio recordings of his client's "wiretapping", which were attached to the criminal case, were edited by the investigation. In support of his words, he published the original audio recordings on social networks.

After this, the archbishop turned to the Prosecutor General of Armenia Anna Vardapetyan, calling the charges brought against him a falsified production. He asked the Prosecutor General whether she was ready to apologize and repent for her incompetent, politicized behavior. The Bishop also promised to take all legal measures to bring the organizers of "this disgrace" to justice.

Relations between the Armenian authorities and the Armenian Apostolic Church have sharply deteriorated after Pashinyan posted offensive messages about the Armenian Apostolic Church on Facebook* in late May, including using foul language. He later proposed changing the procedure for electing the Catholicos of All Armenians and assigning the state a decisive role in this process.

Samvel Karapetyan, an entrepreneur and philanthropist who stood up for the church, was arrested, which caused outrage among numerous representatives of the diaspora around the world, who told RIA Novosti that political persecution of the church and its supporters is unacceptable. Archbishop Galstanyan, who heads the Sacred Struggle movement, was also arrested. He was the leader of the protesters who demanded the resignation of the prime minister in 2024. In late June, the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, was arrested in Yerevan. A case was opened against him and he was accused of calling for the seizure of power. The hierarch himself called these charges fabricated. Before Ajapakhyan's arrest, employees of the National Security Service of Armenia arrived at the residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians in Echmiadzin to detain the archbishop, but were met with resistance from believers and priests.

* belongs to the Meta company, banned in Russia as extremist

Reprinted from https://ria.ru/