The special forces of the National Security Service in masks entered the territory of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin. The National Security Service conducts searches at the residence of the Catholicos of All Armenians in Etchmiadzin, according to lawyer Mihran Poghosyan.
The primate of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Michael Ajapakhyan, is in Etchmiadzin. His residence had already been searched a little earlier.
There is a decision to detain Archbishop Ajapakhyan, lawyer Ara Zohrabyan said in the courtyard of the residence of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin in front of the priests. The day before, the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office opened a case against Ajapakhyan for calls to seize power.
Vladyka must appear in The Investigative Committee, after which a petition for arrest will be filed with the court. Zoghabyan said that the reason for the criminal case was the interview of the bishop, given in February 2024. According to investigators, in this interview there were calls for the seizure of power and the overthrow of the constitutional order.
According to the lawyer, this criminal case is part of the anti—church campaign of the authorities.
The clergy gathered in the courtyard.
"Dear ones, all the clergy of Armenia are ready for arrest. We're all in The Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin… Either you will take us all away, or you will take out our bodies," Hieromonk Asoghik Karapetyan wrote on the social network.
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