Yerevan’s Kentron Criminal Court today sentenced Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, Primate of the Aragatzotn Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to two months detention on charges that he used his office to force clergymen under his authority to attend opposition political rallies in 2021. 

Proshyan and at least twelve other clergymen were detained on Wednesday following allegations made by Aragatzotn parish priest Father Aram Asatryan that he was coerced to attend the 2021 rallies calling for the resignation of Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan.

Thousands took to the streets of Yerevan in November 2020 to oppose the government’s ceasefire deal with Azerbaijan to end the war in Karabakh. The protests continued throughout November and into the spring of 2021 with demonstrations in Yerevan and other cities demanding the resignation of Nikol Pashinyan.

Catholicos Karekin II, at the time, joined other politicians calling for Pashinyan’s resignation.

Bishop Proshyan, the nephew of Catholicos Garegin II, is the third high-ranking clergyman in Armenia facing criminal charges.

A Yerevan court, on October 3, sentenced Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan, Shirak Primate of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to two-years imprisonment after he was found guilty on charges that he publicly called for seizing power and overthrowing the constitutional order in Armenia.

Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is also in pre-trial detention on similar charges. He led a protest movement in 2024 opposing the Armenian government’s plan to handover border regions to Azerbaijan.