Armenia Arrests Another High-Ranking Clergy Member

Arshak Khachatryan

Amid a growing dispute between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the government, Armenian officials have arrested a fourth top clergyman: Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan. He's accused of arranging to plant drugs in a demonstrator's backpack during a 2018 protest against Catholicos Karekin II.

Khachatryan was ordered to be held for two months before his trial on Friday.

The Armenian National Security Service (NSS) detained him the previous day as he was leaving the Investigative Committee building. He'd been asked to come in for questions about a leaked video that supposedly showed him in an intimate situation.

Arsen Babayan, Khachatryan's lawyer, believes the questioning was just an excuse to arrest him. He said there was no need for another round of questions and called them absurd and meaningless.

According to the Investigative Committee, the criminal case involves a group illegally selling drugs in a public place after agreeing to do so beforehand.

"We've never heard anything so absurd," Babayan said on Facebook Live.

He pointed out a contradiction between what Khachatryan is accused of doing and the charges against him. Khachatryan is accused of arranging for one of his subordinates to plant drugs in a protester's backpack to discredit them. But Babayan notes that the criminal case refers to the sale of drugs, not the alleged attempt to discredit the demonstrator by planting drugs on them.

Babayan, in turn, accused the government of trying to discredit Khachatryan for political reasons by bringing these charges against him. He also mentioned that the incident happened back in 2018.

Babayan said that back then, some people suspected during the investigation that Khachatryan might have been behind the drugs found in the backpack.

He then stated that the most recent action in the case occurred in July 2025, but didn't go into more detail. On December 4, an investigative group was formed and started a criminal case against Khachatryan, leading to his arrest.

"This timeline shows when the political order was given. When did the political authorities order the political persecution against Archbishop Arshak because of his views and statements?" Babayan questioned.

He framed Khachatryan's detention as part of a larger government effort against the Church. This effort picked back up in late May, when officials accused Karekin II of breaking his vow of celibacy by fathering a child, making him unfit to lead the Church.

The Church strongly condemned the arrest on Friday, calling the charges fabricated and baseless. They demanded an immediate end to the persecution of Khachatryan and the other imprisoned clergy.

"This action is a sign of the recent repression against the Church and a continuation of the politically driven persecution of the clergy," the statement said.

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan directly accused Karekin II of being a foreign agent who obeys a senior lieutenant of a foreign special service.

In late November, 10 top priests issued a statement saying they expected Karekin II to voluntarily go on leave.

The statement came soon after an extraordinary meeting with Pashinyan. Tensions had risen over a statement from pro-government media accusing Karekin II of trying to cover up the scandal involving the leaked video allegedly featuring Archbishop Khachatryan.

On Thursday, 27 high-ranking clergy expressed their unconditional loyalty to Karekin II. They also stated that any attempt to resolve issues within the church through political involvement is unacceptable and dangerous.