Armenian Catholicos Garegin II attends first hearing in criminal trial
Catholicos of All Armenians appears in court
A court in Armenia‘s Armavir region has begun hearing the criminal case against the Catholicos of All Armenians and six bishops who serve on the Supreme Spiritual Council. Garegin II attended the hearing in person.
Clergy members and politicians gathered outside the courthouse. Lawmakers from the opposition Armenia Alliance and I Have Honour Alliance left parliament during the afternoon and travelled to Etchmiadzin to show their support for the Catholicos. Dozens of worshippers also gathered outside, periodically chanting “Your Holiness” and singing traditional Armenian church hymns (sharakans).
Prosecutors accuse the Catholicos and the senior clergy of obstructing the enforcement of a court ruling.
Garegin II removed Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, head of the Masyatsotn Diocese, from his post. Saroyan is one of the senior clerics who joined Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s campaign to “reform the Church”. The bishop challenged his dismissal in court. The court ordered his temporary reinstatement as head of the diocese until it reaches a final decision in the case. However, before the court could rule on the merits, the Supreme Spiritual Council, led by the Catholicos, also defrocked him. The council argued that the courts have no jurisdiction over the Church’s internal affairs.
Lawyer Ara Zohrabyan says the Catholicos faces criminal prosecution for carrying out his “ecclesiastical and canonical duties”.
He argues that state interference in the Catholicos’s decisions violates the principle of Church autonomy, the constitutional relationship between the state and the Church, and freedom of religion.
“In this criminal case, the court will examine not only the charges against specific individuals, but also another fundamental question: whether the secular authorities can interfere in the internal life of the Church and criminalise the exercise of the canonical authority of the Catholicos of All Armenians,” the lawyer said.
The trial comes after tensions between the government and the Church steadily escalated.
About a year ago, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan called for the Catholicos to step down. He first argued that Garegin II could not lead the Church because he had broken his vow of celibacy and had a daughter. He later accused the Catholicos of having links to foreign intelligence services. The ruling Civil Contract party has also included the removal of the “de facto head of the Church” in its election manifesto.
Members of the ruling party accuse the Church of interfering in Armenia’s domestic and foreign policy. The parliamentary opposition rejects that claim. Opposition lawmakers argue that it is the government that is unlawfully interfering in the Church’s affairs.
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First hearing ends after 30 minutes as judge recuses himself
Shortly after the hearing began, Judge Hakob Manukyan announced that part of the proceedings would take place behind closed doors because they would involve “personal information”. He said the information concerned both himself and the Catholicos’s lawyer.
“A few minutes later, lawyer Ara Zohrabyan told journalists: “The judge has recused himself. He has withdrawn from hearing this case.”
According to Zohrabyan, the judge said he had once granted him his licence to practise law, which could “raise doubts about his impartiality”. Zohrabyan said he did not believe this constituted valid grounds for recusal.
“However, he refused to take part in this disgraceful trial. The very fact that the Catholicos is standing trial is deeply troubling. The case will now go to another judge.”
After the hearing, the Catholicos of All Armenians and his supporters headed to the cathedral to attend a church service and pray together.
Garegin II: “The authorities are trying to bring the Church under their control”
After the service, the Catholicos addressed those gathered outside the cathedral. He said the authorities were taking steps to undermine the Church’s authority, restrict its autonomy and bring it under their control.
“The authorities are persecuting the Church and the clergy. They have arrested and restricted the freedom of a number of clergymen, benefactors and other patriotic individuals through unlawful and fabricated criminal cases,” he said.
The Catholicos dismissed the charges against himself and the six clergymen as groundless.
“We remain steadfast in our faith and determination to defend our rights, which are guaranteed both by our country’s Constitution and by the fundamental principles of international law.”
Opposition declares a “day of shame”
Marianna Gakhramanyan, an MP from the opposition I Have Honour Alliance, said:
“Today is a day of shame. The Catholicos of All Armenians, our spiritual father and the head of our Church, is standing trial in Etchmiadzin. It is shameful and unprecedented. This is an attack not only on the independence of the Armenian Apostolic Church but also on Armenia’s Constitution, which clearly states that the political authorities have no right to interfere in the affairs of the Church and that the Church is separate from the state.”
“Who is defending the Church – us or you?” asks ruling party MP
Commenting on opposition lawmakers who came to support the Catholicos, Civil Contract MP Artur Hovhannisyan said:
“The Church has begun interfering in Armenia’s domestic and foreign policy.”
He also referred to the allegations that the Catholicos had violated his vow of celibacy:
“We are the ones standing with the Church. We are the ones defending the Church. You are defending clergymen who broke their vow of celibacy, who engage in politics and use religion and the Church to protect themselves from the consequences of breaking that vow and taking part in politics. Anyone who has broken the vow of celibacy should leave the Church.”
The ruling Civil Contract party’s election manifesto also outlines plans to reform the Church. Under the proposal, the “de facto head of the Church”, as Pashinyan’s team refers to the Catholicos, should leave office. The plan calls for the election of a locum tenens, the adoption of a new Church charter containing “mechanisms to preserve centuries-old traditions”, and, ultimately, the election of a new Catholicos.
Comment
Political analyst Tigran Grigoryan told Reuters:
“Pashinyan has come to see the Church as a political threat and as an institution capable of supporting the opposition and various political parties in their efforts to gain power.
“The case against the clergy fits into a broader pattern of selective justice pursued by Pashinyan’s government, under which leading opposition figures have been arrested and some of their property has been confiscated by the state.”
Catholicos of All Armenians appears in court
