Armenian Court places Archbishop Ajapakhyan under house arrest

On February 6, the Court of Appeal of Armenia transferred the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, from prison to house arrest.

"The court decided to satisfy the defense's request to change the preventive measure of Mikael Ajapakhyan. House arrest should be chosen as an alternative preventive measure against the accused Mikael Ajapakhyan," Judge Edgar Manasyan said during the hearing, which was broadcast on the Armenia Today Youtube channel.

The court also imposed restrictions on Ajapakhyan's visits, which do not apply to relatives, lawyers, clergy and administrative staff of the Shirak diocese.

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Ajapakhyan was detained on June 27 last year. The Investigative Committee of Armenia has opened a criminal case against him on calls to overthrow the government in the country. In turn, Armenian lawyer Varazdat Harutyunyan stated that the criminal case against the archbishop on calls to seize power is absurd from a legal point of view. The next day, the court arrested the archbishop for two months.

On July 24, Ajapakhyan's lawyers filed a petition asking to cancel or change the measure of restraint for their client. The legal team noted that there were no grounds for the arrest of the clergyman. On September 24, the court found Ajapakhyan guilty of calling for the violent overthrow of the government.

On October 3, a court in Yerevan sentenced Ajapakhyan to two years in prison.

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