According to a video posted on the Telegram channel of the "Sacred Struggle" movement, members of Armenia’s National Security Service today detained the movement’s leader, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.

Galstyan, the Armenian Apostolic Church’s Tavush Primate, led a protest movement in 2024 opposing the Armenian government’s plan to handover border regions to Azerbaijan.

On May 9, 2024,  Galstanyan went so far as issuing the following ultimatum to Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan – "You have one hour to resign!"

While thousands joined the 2024 spring protests, the movement ultimately fizzled-out without forcing Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan to resign.

The clergyman once described the Pashinyan government as a “den of evil” that needs to be removed post haste. 

Earlier today, Armenia’s Investigative Committee (IC) issued a statement claiming it had evidence, including tapped telephone conversations, that Galstyan and numerous top organizers of the protest movement had planned to use terrorism and violence to seize power in the country.

The IC alleges the movement had recruited more than 1,000 people and had obtained explosives to disrupt public order in Yerevan to seize power.

The Armenian Revolutionary Federation’s (ARF) Supreme Council today reported that law enforcement had raided the apartments of several top party officials.

The ARF backed Galstyan’s protest movement.

The IC also released photos of weapons it claims were found after the raids and reported that fourteen people had been arrested as a result.