Catholicos of All Armenians could be charged with forcing participation in antigovernment protests
YEREVAN. Oct 17 (Interfax) - Armenia's Investigative Committee has launched a criminal inquiry on the basis of a recorded telephone conversation that mentions the Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II in the context of forcing priests to take part in antigovernment protests.
"The criminal case has been opened under part three of Article.236 of the Armenian Criminal Code (impeding or forcing others to conduct or take part in a gathering by using authority or official powers, as well as materially stimulating participation in a gathering or refusal from participation in it)," the Committee's press service said in a statement on Friday.
Earlier on Friday, pro-government Armenian media circulated an audio recording of a telephone conversation between rchbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, head of external relations and protocol at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and priest Agan Yernjakyan, a former mace-bearer of the Catholicos.
In the recorded conversation, the archbishop is trying to persuade the priest to withdraw his clerical resignation letter, but he refuses, saying the Catholicos entrusted him and his family to participate in antigovernment demonstrations in 2021, and on refusing he was sent to serve at a chapel 200 kilometers from Yerevan.
The criminal case has been opened on the ground of a recorded telephone conversation, no one has yet been charged, the Armenian Investigative Committee's spokesperson Kima Avdalyan told Interfax.
Meanwhile, the press office for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin said that Armenia's law enforcement and judiciary system were "involved in the realization of unlawful anti-church actions."
"The purpose of spreading the remarks ascribed to the Catholicos of All Armenians is to discredit and to incite animosity towards the Church and clergy. Breaching the secrecy of a telephone conversation is itself a crime and a separate topic, to which we hope law enforcement agencies will give an adequate response," the Etchmiadzin said.
The Armenian ruling party led by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said the Catholicos must abdicate because he violated the vow of celibacy.
On Thursday a court in Yerevan arrested Garegin's nephew Mkrtich Proshyan, the head of the Aragatsotn Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, for two months. He has been charged with forcing others to participate in gatherings and rallies.
On Wednesday the Armenian National Security Service apprehended 13 clergymen and a number of civilian staff of the Aragatsotn Diocese.
In early October a court in Yerevan sentenced the head of the Shirak diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, archbishop Michael Ajapahyan, to two years of imprisonment. He was accused of calling for a coup.
In late June, authorities in Yerevan arrested the leader of the Holy Struggle protest movement, archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, accused of planning acts of terrorism and a coup.
Since late May Pashinyan has been sharply critical of Catholicos Garegin II and the archbishops.
