YEREVAN. – Priest Shmavon regrets that Armenia lacks the Inquisition, he said at a press conference on Wednesday commenting on the report that a religious sect rents part of the Armenia’s Architects Union.

“I gave for a rent the hall of the Union to that organization as I could not reject them. Armenia approves freedom of conscience and religion. We receive no state financing, so I cared for the construction with the money allocated from the rent,” head of the Union Mkrtich Minasyan said adding he had no idea whether it was a sect as they were registered legally.

The priest stated that the fact of having been registered is not enough to claim it is not a sect, and regretted that Armenia lacks the Inquisition.

To note, Cooperation for Democracy NGO claimed that Armenia has a law on calling someone into criminal responsibility if the latter hampers realization of freedom of conscience and religion. Hence, if all the laws were functioning in Armenia, the priest should have called for responsibility.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan