The Yerevan City Criminal Court of First Instance of General Jurisdiction on Thursday granted the investigator’s motion, and Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, Primate of the Diocese of Aragatsotn of the Armenian Apostolic Church, has been arrested for two months, one of the bishop’s defense attorneys, Yerem Sargsyan, told reporters.

Bishop Proshyan was transferred to a penitentiary.

After about six hours of proceedings on Wednesday, the court had retired to the deliberation room.

“There is absolutely no law [here]; what is decided will happen. That they say there’s no longer a culture of fabricating cases [in Armenia]—this is it,” Sargsyan told those gathered in front of the court.

On Wednesday morning, the Investigative Committee of Armenia, accompanied by the National Security Service, carried out searches at the homes of several clergymen of the Diocese of Aragatsotn of the Armenian Apostolic Church, as well as in the diocesan headquarters itself. As a result, three individuals—including the primate of the diocese, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan—were detained.

The searches were conducted within the framework of proceedings initiated based on a statement made by Father Aram Asatryan on Public Television. He had said that the clergy were instructed from the Diocese of Aragatsotn to take part in opposition rallies in 2021.

According to the Investigative Committee’s statement, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan is charged under the former Criminal Code’s Section 2, Clause 4 of Article 149 (obstructing the exercise of electoral rights, the work of electoral commissions, or the powers of persons participating in elections), and the current Criminal Code’s Section 3 of Article 236 (obstructing or coercing participation in an assembly, as well as offering material incentives to participate or to refuse participation in an assembly).

To note, the primate of the Diocese of Aragatsotn is the nephew of the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II.