Former Tavush Primate Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan has sued Armenian PM Nikol Pashinyan, accusing him of defaming the main opposition forces elected in the June 7 parliamentary elections by alleging they bought votes and would not have entered parliament without bribery.

Archbishop Galstanyan is demanding that Pashinyan be ordered to retract the allegations on the official websites of the Armenian government and prime minister, as well as distributed through the press with a circulation of no less than 5,000 copies.

Armenia’s National Security Service took Galstanyan into custody in June 2025 when he headed the Armenian Apostolic Church’s Tavush Diocese.

The clergyman was charged with fomenting public disorder and planning to seize power in Armenia during a protest movement he led in 2024 opposing the Armenian government’s plan to handover border regions to Azerbaijan.

In June, Armenia’s Criminal Court of Appeals partially upheld an appeal filed on behalf of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, overturning a lower court decision that had ordered his detention.

Galstanyan will remain under judicial restrictions but will no longer be held in pre-trial detention while the criminal proceedings continue.