Armenian Church leaders face trial amid deepening political standoff

The charges center on the Church's alleged refusal to reinstate a defrocked bishop, Gevorg Saroyan, who had openly aligned himself with the Pashinyan administration. If convicted, the defendants face up to two years in prison. The case is widely viewed by legal experts and civil society groups as a calculated move by the executive branch to neutralize a powerful political adversary. Anna Melikyan of the non-profit group Protection of Rights Without Borders described the prosecution as an unprecedented interference in the constitutional independence of the Church.

This legal battle unfolds against a backdrop of geopolitical tension. While Pashinyan seeks to pivot Armenia away from Russian influence toward the European Union, he has repeatedly accused the Church of serving as a foreign proxy. Critics, however, argue that the government is utilizing the judiciary to silence dissent. Tigran Grigoryan, director of the Regional Centre for Democracy and Security, noted that the trial is part of a broader pattern of selective justice. With other prominent clerics already imprisoned or under house arrest for demanding the Prime Minister's resignation, the trial of Karekin II signals a hardening of the government's stance against its most influential institutional critic.