Rector of the Academy of Law and attorney Ara Zohrabyan reacted on Facebook to the ongoing criminal investigation involving Bishop Nathan and several Armenian clergymen, emphasizing that "the investigative body has no right to interfere in the internal affairs of the Church."
He noted that over the past days, multiple clerics from the Aragatsotn Diocese and the Mother See have been summoned as witnesses—not in connection with an older case involving police detentions, but in relation to a criminal case tied to Bishop Nathan. This investigation was initially launched under Article 236 (3) of the Criminal Code, which refers to coercing someone into attending a gathering.
Zohrabyan said the investigation has now expanded under Article 203, focusing on alleged discriminatory conduct, specifically the defrocking of former priest Aram Asatryan and Father Tadeh.
He criticized investigators for allegedly treating the defrocking as a case of discrimination, while ignoring the potentially illegal recording of Bishop Nathan's phone call—an issue he believes falls under Article 206 (violation of telephone privacy). He pointed out that a criminal case was previously opened over a leaked call between PM Nikol Pashinyan and former NSS head Artur Vanetsyan.
Zohrabyan stressed that no discrimination occurred in Aram’s case, stating that the former cleric had publicly defamed the Church, disobeyed superiors, and omitted key liturgical references—actions which led to his removal in line with Church rules.
He underscored that anti-discrimination standards cannot be applied within the Church’s doctrinal framework: “A woman cannot become a priest or bishop solely based on gender; an unbaptized person cannot receive Holy Communion. Is that discrimination?”
Quoting the Armenian Constitution and Armenian Church-State relations law, Zohrabyan reminded that the Church’s autonomy is recognized by the state, which has no right—nor do its agencies like the Investigative Committee—to interfere in internal ecclesiastical decisions.
He added that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favor of church autonomy in multiple cases, including a Catholic priest whose termination was upheld as a matter of internal church governance.
“This is a new low for the Investigative Committee’s anti-church campaign,” Zohrabyan wrote. “In 34 years of Armenia’s independence, and even during seven years of Nikol Pashinyan’s leadership, we didn’t suddenly have ‘bad clergy.’ Why now, in 2025, after May, do we suddenly find criminal bishops?”
Eight clergy members from the Mother See and Aragatsotn Diocese have been summoned by the Investigative Committee. The case concerns a leaked phone call from 2023 in which former priest Aghan Yeranjakyan allegedly tells Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan that the Catholicos was pressuring them to attend anti-government protests. The tape was released by pro-government media on October 17.
