Brother, nephew of Armenian Catholicos give testimony after detention

The brother and nephew of Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II — Gevorg Nersisyan and Ambartsum Nersisyan — have given testimony following their detention,

According to lawyer Ara Zohrabyan, who shared the information on social media, both men were questioned and a video recording of their testimony was submitted to the investigator, Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenian media.

“Gevorg Nersisyan and his son Ambartsum Nersisyan have been detained. They have given testimony, and the video recording has been provided to the investigator. We are waiting for a decision. Within 12 hours, the court must either receive a motion for their arrest or order their release,” Zohrabyan wrote.

As previously reported, Gevorg Nersisyan and his nephew Ambartsum Nersisyan were detained on charges of hooliganism and obstructing an election campaign. The detentions occurred on November 1, 2025, in Vagharshapat (Etchmiadzin), near the Armenian Apostolic Church’s (AAC) Mother See headquarters.

The controversy began after Harutyun Mkrtchyan, a candidate from the Republican Party, alleged on social media that on November 1, Gevorg Nersisyan and his sons interfered with pre-election campaigning activities.

This case is the latest in a series of high-profile detentions targeting Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC) figures and their relatives, exacerbating a year-long standoff between the government and the church.

This statement comes in the wake of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's repeated public accusations that Garegin II has been "defrocked" for violating his vow of celibacy—allegedly fathering a child—and unlawfully "seizing the patriarchal throne," with Pashinyan urging the Catholicos's immediate resignation and mobilising supporters to facilitate his removal from the Etchmiadzin residence.

The standoff, which has intensified since May 2025, pits Pashinyan's secular government against the AAC, highlighting deep societal rifts over the 2020 and 2023 military defeats to Azerbaijan, territorial concessions, and Pashinyan's pro-Western foreign policy shift. Church leaders and opposition figures view the pressure as an authoritarian bid to consolidate power ahead of 2026 elections, while Pashinyan portrays it as a moral and anti-corruption crusade to "liberate" the church from a "dogmatic, antichrist, anti-national" clique.

By Khagan Isayev