News - The Armenian National Congress on Archbishop Mikayel's verdict.

On October 3, the Yerevan First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction, presided by Judge Armine Meliksetyan, sentenced the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, His Eminence Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, to two years of imprisonment. The entire criminal prosecution process against Archbishop Mikael—from the fabrication of the criminal case, the searches conducted at the Shirak Diocese’s chancery and at the Archbishop’s residence, to the raid by special forces within the territory of the Mother See to arrest him, followed by his detention and the entire judicial farce—demonstrates that in reality political persecution is taking place in every possible way. What is happening is part of the abuses unleashed by the authorities against the Holy Armenian Apostolic Church and its spiritual leadership. It is aimed at restricting freedom of speech and expression and seriously harms Armenia’s international standing. This is also evidenced by the fact that back in 2024 the Prosecutor's Office and the National Security Service did not see elements of criminal offense in Archbishop Mikael’s statements and rejected requests to initiate a criminal investigation. Yet a year later, a criminal proceeding was opened against this archbishop after the current government, led by Nikol Pashinyan, launched an explicit campaign against the Church. This shows that the criminal pursuit of Archbishop Mikael is exclusively governed by a political directive—retribution. The Armenian National Congress regards Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan as a political prisoner who has been imprisoned and convicted for his statements. The Armenian National Congress strongly condemns the political persecution of the Archbishop and the court’s verdict. The Armenian National Congress is confident that this case will sooner or later meet an inglorious end—whether in domestic courts or in the European Court of Human Rights. Accordingly, the Congress demands the release of Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, as well as Samvel Karapetyan, Archbishop Bagrat Galstyan, and all other political prisoners.