Case of the Catholicos of All Armenians and 6 Bishops Sent to Court

The indictment in the criminal case against the Catholicos of All Armenians and six bishops has been approved by the prosecutor's office and sent to court. This is reported in the "Datalex" information system.

The case was received yesterday by the Court of General Jurisdiction of Armavir Region and assigned to Judge Hakob Manukyan.

In the case sent to court, the defendants include Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II, as well as clergymen Natan, Haykazun, Makar, Hovnan, and Mushegh.

As a reminder, criminal prosecution was initiated against His Holiness within the framework of a criminal case concerning failure to comply with a court ruling in the case of Arman Sargsyan.

Specifically, the former primate of the Mashtots Diocese, now defrocked bishop Gevorg Saroyan, under his secular name Arman Saroyan, filed a lawsuit against the Armenian Apostolic Holy Church, demanding that the patriarchal order of Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II relieving him of his position as primate of the Mashtots Diocese be declared invalid and that he consequently be reinstated as primate of the Mashtots Diocese.

The lawsuit was accepted for proceedings by Judge Edgar Hovhannisyan of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Armavir Region. The judge also granted a motion for interim measures in the case, temporarily reinstating the bishop as primate of the Mashtots Diocese pending a final court ruling on the case.

Following this decision, law enforcement authorities initiated criminal proceedings over the failure to comply with the court ruling, as a result of which criminal prosecutions were brought against members of the Supreme Spiritual Council, and they were barred from leaving Armenia.

On February 14, it became known that criminal prosecution had also been initiated against the Catholicos. A travel ban was likewise applied to him as a measure of restraint.