Christian Solidarity International releases new report on Pashinyan`s  anti-church campaign

ArmInfo. "Not since the worst excesses of Soviet rule has the Armenian Apostolic Church faced state-sponsored persecution of such depth and intensity," concludes a  new report released  today by Christian Solidarity International  (CSI).

According to CSI, the report includes a list of known political  prisoners in Armenia, the first of its kind published by an  international human rights group. It is authored by Peter Flew, an  international lawyer and historian specializing in religious freedom  across Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, and the Caucasus, and is  based on his recent fact-finding mission to Armenia.  Combining legal  analysis with historical background, the report details the effort by  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to "subordinate the church to state  control." The political prisoners named in the report include  clergymen, relatives of the clergy, podcasters, church workers, and  others detained by the Armenian authorities in their campaign against  the church. The report's list of political prisoners was compiled by  CSI in consultation with the Armenian Center for Political Rights.

The report's release comes as European leaders are gathering in  Yerevan for the 8th European Political Community Summit on May 4,  followed by the first ever EU-Armenia Summit on May 5.  "European  leaders attending well-staged political events in downtown Yerevan  should know that they are within walking distance of the prison where  Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan is being held on manufactured charges,"  said Dr. Joel Veldkamp, CSI's director for public advocacy.

Since May 2025, Prime Minister Pashinyan has been publicly  campaigning to force the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church,  Catholicos Karekin II, to resign. As the report shows, Pashinyan's  government has arrested one-third of the archbishops in Armenia,  imposed travel bans on the Catholicos and other senior church  leaders, and attempted to foment a schism in the church.  On March  12, 2026, the  International Observatory for Dempcracy in Armenia, a  watchdog group whose executive team includes Kenneth Roth, the former  Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, issued a warning about  democratic backsliding in Armenia, including "the apparent  weaponization of the judiciary and security forces by the government  against political opponents."

The government's campaign against the church began in May 2025, after  the Catholicos spoke at a conference in Switzerland organized by the    World Council of Churches. There, the Catholicos publicly advocated  for Armenian refugees from Nagorno Karabakh, a region which was  ethnically cleansed by Azerbaijan in 2023, to be allowed to return to  their homes.  Pashinyan has made signing a peace treaty with  Azerbaijan the centerpiece of his national agenda, and has called  discussion of the refugees' right of return "dangerous" for peace. In  his address to the European Parliament in March, he accused church  leaders of seeking to start a new war with Azerbaijan.

In his introduction to the report, CSI's president, John Eibner,  argues that the Pashinyan government's campaign against the church  must be understood as part of Turkey and Azerbaijan's effort to  "weaken the Armenian nation and diminish its ability to resist  submission and integration into the emerging Turkish-led order in the  region." "More than any other Armenian institution today, the  Armenian Apostolic Church poses an obstacle to Turkey and  Azerbaijan's plans," Eibner argues.

The report ends with a set of official recommendations from CSI to  European and American policymakers. These include publicly affirming  the right of the Armenian church to choose its own leaders without  state interference, urging the Armenian government to release  detained clergy and other political prisoners, engaging with  independent human rights groups in Armenia, and supporting the Swiss  parliament's  Peace Initiative for Nagorno Karabagh.  Now is the  moment for principled and coordinated action," Flew concludes in the  report. "Armenia's security and prosperity will not be strengthened  by subordinating the Armenian Apostolic Church. Instead, they depend  on safeguarding the fundamental rights of all Armenians, as well as  its national church."

The full report is available at the following link:  https://www.csiint.org/app/uploads/sites/13/2026/05/20260504_Armenia-  Report_Flew_Final-4.pdf .