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A prominent cleric in Armenia was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday after being found guilty of calling for the overthrow of the government.
A court in Yerevan, Armenia, convicted Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan on September 24 for publicly calling for the government’s overthrow. His lawyer said he will appeal, calling the case politically motivated.
Ajapahyan was arrested in June after security forces attempted to detain him at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, prompting a tense standoff with clergy and supporters. He later appeared at the Investigative Committee and was ordered into pretrial detention. Prosecutors accused him of making public calls to seize power and violently overthrow the constitutional order. The Armenian Apostolic Church condemned the verdict, describing it as part of an “anti-church campaign.”
The ruling follows a summer of arrests involving outspoken clerics and opposition figures. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who leads the Sacred Struggle movement that organized protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, was detained in June on coup-related allegations. Investigators said they recovered explosives and equipment as part of an alleged plot; Galstanyan’s lawyers have rejected the claims as fabricated. In a separate June operation, heavily armed units entered the Etchmiadzin compound in an unsuccessful attempt to take Ajapahyan into custody, sparking a visible confrontation with clergy before he later surrendered and was remanded.
Tensions have intensified since Armenia agreed in 2024 to transfer control of several border villages to Azerbaijan as part of efforts to normalize relations. Large demonstrations followed the handover, and Sacred Struggle broadened its grievances to include wider criticism of the government. While Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders initialed a US-brokered peace text in August, a final treaty has not yet been signed or ratified, and domestic debate over security concessions continues.
Ajapahyan’s defense is expected to seek appellate review of both the conviction and sentence. Under Armenia’s criminal procedure articles 364-387, defendants may challenge trial decisions on points of law and evidence; if upheld on appeal, further review may be sought before the cassation court. The church has signaled it will pursue legal remedies and public advocacy alongside the appeal.
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A court in Yerevan, Armenia, convicted Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan on September 24 for publicly calling for the government’s overthrow. His lawyer said he will appeal, calling the case politically motivated.
Ajapahyan was arrested in June after security forces attempted to detain him at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, prompting a tense standoff with clergy and supporters. He later appeared at the Investigative Committee and was ordered into pretrial detention. Prosecutors accused him of making public calls to seize power and violently overthrow the constitutional order. The Armenian Apostolic Church condemned the verdict, describing it as part of an “anti-church campaign.”
The ruling follows a summer of arrests involving outspoken clerics and opposition figures. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who leads the Sacred Struggle movement that organized protests against Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, was detained in June on coup-related allegations. Investigators said they recovered explosives and equipment as part of an alleged plot; Galstanyan’s lawyers have rejected the claims as fabricated. In a separate June operation, heavily armed units entered the Etchmiadzin compound in an unsuccessful attempt to take Ajapahyan into custody, sparking a visible confrontation with clergy before he later surrendered and was remanded.
Tensions have intensified since Armenia agreed in 2024 to transfer control of several border villages to Azerbaijan as part of efforts to normalize relations. Large demonstrations followed the handover, and Sacred Struggle broadened its grievances to include wider criticism of the government. While Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders initialed a US-brokered peace text in August, a final treaty has not yet been signed or ratified, and domestic debate over security concessions continues.
Ajapahyan’s defense is expected to seek appellate review of both the conviction and sentence. Under Armenia’s criminal procedure articles 364-387, defendants may challenge trial decisions on points of law and evidence; if upheld on appeal, further review may be sought before the cassation court. The church has signaled it will pursue legal remedies and public advocacy alongside the appeal.
The post Armenian court hands two-year prison sentence to Archbishop on coup-related charge appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.