The prosecutor initially assigned to the criminal case against His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, has resigned from the Prosecutor General’s Office.
Prosecutor Khachatur Galstyan left the office at his own request, the Prosecutor General’s Office confirmed to 5th Channel.
Citing a well-informed source, 5th Channel reported that Galstyan had initially been told by senior officials that the case had little prospect of reaching trial and would likely be closed during the pretrial stage. According to the source, prosecutors themselves viewed the case as deeply problematic and expected Galstyan would not have to publicly defend the charges in court.
The case was nevertheless sent forward, reportedly leaving Galstyan with a choice: resign or appear in court to defend what the source described as an unlawful and fabricated prosecution.
Galstyan chose to leave.
The Prosecutor General’s Office denied, however, that his resignation was connected to the case against the Catholicos and six bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
According to 5th Channel, Deputy Prosecutor General Aram Aramyan has now been appointed as the public prosecutor in the case.
The proceedings stem from a dispute involving Arman Saroyan, formerly Bishop Gevorg Saroyan. After the Mother See removed Saroyan as head of the Masyatsotn Diocese and later defrocked him, he challenged the decision in court and obtained an interim order in his favor.
Pashinyan’s government subsequently launched criminal proceedings against the Catholicos and six bishops, accusing them of obstructing enforcement of that order.
The case has also become entangled in a jurisdictional dispute and has already passed through three judges without moving to a substantive trial.
It was initially assigned to Armavir Regional Court Judge Hakob Manukyan, who recused himself on August 7, citing a prior professional connection with defense attorney Ara Zohrabyan.
The case was then assigned to Judge Serzh Rushanyan. On August 28, Rushanyan ruled that prosecutors had failed to establish why the case should be heard by the Armavir Regional Court and transferred it to the Yerevan Criminal Court of First Instance.
The Catholicos’s legal team challenged that decision, arguing that Armavir is the proper jurisdiction because the Church decisions at the center of the case were made at the Mother See in Etchmiadzin.
After the case was transferred to Yerevan, it was assigned on September 1 to Judge Vahagn Melikyan, the third judge to receive it. Two days later, Melikyan appealed to the Court of Cassation to resolve the jurisdictional dispute rather than proceeding with the case.
As a result, none of the three judges assigned to the case has so far moved it to a substantive trial. Manukyan recused himself, Rushanyan transferred it to another court, and Melikyan has asked the Court of Cassation to determine which court should hear it.
Galstyan’s resignation now adds another unusual development to a case that has already moved between three judges and two courts without reaching trial.
The proceedings come amid Nikol Pashinyan’s continuing campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholicos, whose resignation he has repeatedly demanded.
