The Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia (RA) has provided details on the criminal case against Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

“During the summary of the results of the main professional structural units by the Chairman of the RA Investigative Committee, among other tasks, it was instructed to identify, investigate, and actively investigate criminal proceedings from previous years that had not been solved.

As a result, a number of criminal proceedings from previous years have been uncovered or brought to procedural completion (...).

In this context, the RA Investigative Committee’s Main Department for Especially Important Cases also identified and examined the criminal proceeding initiated on July 20, 2018, under Article 266, Part 1 of the former Criminal Code of RA, regarding the illegal sale of marijuana to H.A. in the chancellery reception area of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

As a result of investigative and evidentiary actions, the alleged crime was solved, and it was established that S.Kh. reached a prior agreement with deacon S.T., serving under him, and an as-yet unidentified person, who on July 7, 2018, together illegally sold marijuana to H.A. by alternating their roles in the following manner: With S.Kh.’s instructions, chancellery secretary S.T. photographed H.A.’s backpack hung in the chancellery reception area using a mobile phone and sent the photo to S.Kh. via the Viber app. After that, members of the criminal group placed marijuana in the noted backpack, thereby illegally selling it to H.A. in a public area, in the reception area of the chancellery of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.

After committing the criminal acts, following S.Kh.’s instructions, S.T. called the Vagharshapat Police Department of the RA Police in Armavir Province from his phone number and reported the possible presence of suspicious items with the participants of the action, simultaneously sending the photo he had taken to a police officer. During an inspection by the police afterwards, marijuana illegally sold to H.A. was found in his backpack.

On December 4, 2025, the body conducting the proceeding submitted a petition to the prosecutor overseeing pre-trial proceedings to initiate public criminal prosecution against S.Kh. under Article 266, Part 2, Points 1 and 4 of the RA Criminal Code adopted on April 18, 2003 (corresponding to Article 393, Part 2, Points 1 and 4 of the current RA Criminal Code).

On the same day, the supervising prosecutor granted the petition, and a decision was made to initiate public criminal prosecution against S.Kh.

On December 4, he was detained to be presented to the court. A petition to apply detention as a preventive measure was submitted to the court and approved.

The investigation of the criminal proceeding continues.

Necessary investigative and evidentiary actions are being carried out to clarify all circumstances of the case, as well as to provide a criminal-legal assessment of the actions of other participants,” the Investigative Committee of Armenia noted in its respective statement.