By Lucy Papachristou
TBILISI, Dec 5 (Reuters) – A senior figure in the Armenian Church was placed in pre-trial detention for two months on Friday on charges of planting drugs on protesters seven years ago, his lawyer said, amid a widening church-state rift that has seen several clerics arrested this year.
The government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Armenian Apostolic Church have been at loggerheads in recent months, in part over the former’s handling of peace negotiations with Azerbaijan to end decades of conflict between the South Caucasus neighbours.
Armenia is seeking to conclude a peace agreement with Azerbaijan brokered with U.S. support in August, and some senior clerics have criticised Pashinyan over what they cast as capitulations to Baku and called for his resignation.
It was not immediately clear whether Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, the cleric jailed on Friday, was involved in the standoff with Pashinyan.
Khachatryan stands accused of planting drugs on people protesting in 2018 against Armenia’s chief bishop, Catholicos Karekin II. Khachatryan, who leads the Church’s governing body, is a key ally of Karekin II, its supreme head since 1999.
In a statement on Friday, the Church condemned Khachatryan’s arrest as politically motivated and called for his release. Khachatryan’s lawyer described the charges against his client as “absurd” in a Facebook post.
SUSPECTED COUP ATTEMPTS
Armenia ranks as the world’s oldest officially Christian country, traditionally dating its conversion back to 301 AD. Its Apostolic Church, distinct from both Orthodoxy and Catholicism, is central to Armenian identity.
Several prominent clerics have been arrested since the summer on charges of attempting to incite a violent coup against Pashinyan, who faces a parliamentary election in June.
One senior archbishop, Mikael Ajapahyan, was jailed for two years in October. Another, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, led street protests against Pashinyan last year over territorial concessions made to Azerbaijan following wars in 2020 and 2023. He is currently awaiting trial on charges of plotting a coup.
The Church has broadly rejected those prosecutions as politically motivated.
The growing confrontation between the government and the Church has divided the clergy, with one group of high-ranking bishops demanding this week that Karekin II step down.
(Reporting by Lucy PapachristouEditing by Gareth Jones)
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