The Prosecutor General’s Office of Armenia has taken up a criminal complaint submitted by the Hayakve initiative regarding the unlawful seizure of the Hovhannavank Monastery. As reported by Pastinfo, the complaint is being processed according to legal procedures.
On October 31, Hayakve submitted the report demanding that criminal proceedings be initiated under Articles 209 and 441 of Armenia’s Criminal Code. The group stated that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan overstepped and abused his official powers by intervening in the affairs of the Armenian Apostolic Church. This included repeated public calls to “liberate the Catholicosate from the current Catholicos” and a visit to Hovhannavank where he attended a liturgy unrecognized by the Church.
According to Avetik Chalabyan, violence was used against worshippers and clergy during the service, and priests were denied entry. Law enforcement allegedly facilitated these actions, including obstructing and abducting clergy. Chalabyan said this amounts to the illegal seizure of the monastery, violating the religious rights of the faithful. He asserted that the Mother See is the victim in this case, as the monastic complex it owns was used unlawfully and outside Church authority.
On October 26, Prime Minister Pashinyan attended a liturgy in Hovhannavank led by a suspended priest whom the Mother See had banned from performing religious rites. He was accompanied by senior cabinet members, including the ministers of defense and economy, while the health minister stood behind him.
Days earlier, the Armenian Church had defrocked Father Aram and prohibited him from conducting services, calling the liturgy “a spiritually destructive initiative.” Church leadership accused the prime minister of fomenting division within the Church. Pashinyan has announced plans to attend another liturgy in Hovhannavank on November 2.
