Clergyman`s lawyers explain his position on nomination for Armenia`s  premiership

ArmInfo.  The advocacy group explained why the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhian, refused to put forward his candidacy for the post of prime minister. Any word spoken  is used against the archbishop, lawyer Ara Zohrabyan said at an  urgent press conference on June 30.

The lawyer recalled that on June 27, the NSS special forces entered  the territory of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin in order to detain  Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhian. "The day before, we began to form a  defense group for the archbishop, since we understood that there  would be trials," he said.

The lawyer suggested that the NSS employees not interfere with the  meeting of priests in the Mother See, since Ajapakhian has been the  coordinator of this meeting for many years. The security forces were  promised that after the meeting, the bishop would go to the  Investigative Committee himself. However, the SNB did not agree with  the proposal.

According to Zohrabyan, there were two options: to voluntarily appear  before the Investigative Committee or be forcibly brought in. "There  was no third option. No matter how much we tried to talk about the  third option in the emotional field. Mikael Ajapakhyan decided to go  to the Investigative Committee himself," the lawyer emphasized.

After making this decision, the archbishop decided to tell the clergy  about it. The clergy were objectively outraged by what was happening,  since they believed that what was happening on the territory of Holy  Etchmiadzin was being done on purpose, since the authorities chose  the day when the meeting of priests was supposed to take place. In  this regard, many did not agree with Ajapakhyan's decision.

While we were discussing the upcoming steps inside, noise was heard  outside, and when we came out, we saw that the police were pushing  the clergy in order to enter the building and detain the archbishop.  We intervened so as not to further escalate the situation, reminding  them that we had agreed to appear and were only discussing the  technical conditions>, the lawyer continued.

After the discussions, Mikael Ajapakhyan insisted on his decision to  go to the Investigative Committee. 

"The archbishop came out to the media to tell them about his  decision, but citizens once again did not let him through to the  security forces' car, which was planned to take him to the  Investigative Committee," he noted. (The Investigative Committee then  issued a statement about initiating a new criminal case against  Ajapakhyan, this time <on the fact of obstructing the administration  of justice> - ed.)

The security forces continued their attempts to attack. During the  process, negotiations were conducted with the SNB officers so as not  to deliberately escalate the situation. Later, the security forces  left the area.  However, after another attempt by the bishop to get  into the car, he decided to go on foot and got into the car only  after walking several kilometers.

As for Mikael Ajapakhyan's decision to put forward his candidacy for  the post of Prime Minister within the framework of the impeachment of  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, according to the lawyer, the issue  was discussed during a confidential conversation with the client in  the Investigative Committee building. In this context, he recalled  that the priority is to protect the interests of Mikael Ajapakhyan. 

"He is accused of calling for a military coup. The Archbishop denies  this, and in parallel, a process is underway in which he is nominated  as a candidate for Prime Minister, as if confirming the validity of  these accusations," Zohrabyan emphasized. 

Even the words of the Archbishop, voiced on the territory of the  Mother See in a conversation with journalists about what "he said and  did well," were presented in court by the prosecution in support of  the motion for arrest. In this regard, Zohrabyan continued, in the  presence of 5 lawyers of the archbishop, a statement was drawn up in  which Ajapakhyan said that he was completely satisfied with his  service as a clergyman, therefore, he asked not to speculate on his  name among the candidates for prime minister.

Ajapakhyan is charged under Part 2 of Article 422 of the Criminal  Code. He is suspected of calling for the violent seizure of power and  the overthrow of the constitutional order using the media.

On the afternoon of June 27, former Ambassador-at-Large, head of the  Enlightened Armenia party Edmon Marukyan refused to nominate his  candidacy in the vote of no confidence in Nikol Pashinyan and  proposed an alternative in the person of Archbishop Mikael  Ajapakhyan. 

The opposition faction Hayastan of the Armenian parliament  immediately joined the proposal. Meanwhile, the "I have the honor"  faction and the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) remained on the  sidelines until late in the evening, stating that they had been  unable to contact Serzh Sargsyan. They came out in support of the  initiative only after Mikael Ajapakhyan's refusal was announced.