Catholicos Garegin II and six bishops to stand trial in Armenia

Armenian prosecutors have formally approved an indictment against Garegin II, the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, alongside six bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), referring the landmark criminal case to trial, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.

The criminal proceedings against the 74-year-old spiritual leader were launched in February 2026, when the Prosecutor General's Office imposed a travel ban preventing him from departing the country.

The core indictment against Garegin II centres on charges of obstructing justice in connection with a high-profile legal dispute involving Arman Saroyan (known clerically as Bishop Gevorg), the former head of the Masyatsotn Diocese in Artashat. Saroyan was dismissed from his diocesan post and stripped of his bishop's rank by church authorities after publicly demanding the resignation of Garegin II and calling for the election of a new Catholicos.

Following his defrocking, Saroyan filed a civil lawsuit challenging the decision. Although Armenian courts repeatedly ruled in favour of Saroyan and ordered his administrative reinstatement, the church leadership refused to comply, maintaining the revocation of his clerical rank and ecclesiastical office.

The trial marks an unprecedented escalation in a bitter, years-long power struggle between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's administration and the leadership of Armenia's national church, which has consistently opposed the government's foreign policy and domestic reforms since 2020.

Relations reached a breaking point in early 2025 during an address by Pashinyan to the Armenian diaspora in Switzerland, where he criticised the church’s financial practices as "economically opaque," while initially disavowing plans to force out the Catholicos. However, Pashinyan subsequently intensified his public attacks, accusing top clerics of orchestrating a "criminal-oligarchic" conspiracy against the state and openly calling for Garegin II’s removal.

The indictment of the Catholicos and senior bishops follows a broader crackdown by law enforcement agencies, which have opened multiple criminal investigations targeting church officials, prominent clergy members, and allied business figures aligned with the ecclesiastical leadership.

By Tamilla Hasanova