Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, detained on December 5, 2025 on charges that he orchestrated the planting of drugs in the backpack of a demonstrator at a 2018 protest against Catholicos Karekin II, will be released according to his lawyer.

Etchmiadzin condemned Khachatryan's arrest as politically motivated and called for his release. Khachatryan's lawyer had described the charges against his client as "absurd".