Two clergymen in one cell to wiretapping - lawyer 

ArmInfo. The arrested archbishops Mikael Ajapakhyan and Bagrat Galstanyan are sitting in the same cell at the Yerevan-Kentron penitentiary. The information was confirmed by lawyer Ara Zohrabyan at a press conference on June 30.

"Is this an accident?. There is reason to believe that this was done  deliberately - with the purpose of listening in on their  conversations," Zohrabyan noted.

According to him, Mikael Srbazan feels spiritually strong.

On June 25, the Investigative Committee reported on the preparation  of alleged terrorist acts with the aim of seizing power in Armenia by  members of the "Sacred Struggle." Large-scale searches were conducted  in the homes of the movement's leader Bagrat Galstanyan and his  supporters. That evening, the court arrested them.

On June 27, special forces of the National Security Service of  Armenia entered the territory of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin in  masks to detain and then deliver to court for further arrest the head  of the Shirak Diocese, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhian. It was reported  that a criminal case was opened against him on June 17 of this year,  based on a signal received by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The  reason for the criminal case was an interview given by the bishop in  February 2024 about allegedly public calls for the seizure of power  and the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. On the morning  of the 28th, the court arrested Ajapakhian for 2 months.

It is curious that the petition for the arrest of Archbishop Mikael  for two months was granted by Masis Melkonyan, a member of the  Republic party of Aram Zavenovich Sargsyan, who also arrested the  head of the Tavush Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church,  Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan.  

The confrontation between the authorities and the Armenian Apostolic  Church began on May 29, when at a government meeting Prime Minister  Nikol Pashinyan compared Armenian churches to closets, and his wife  Anna Hakobyan called the clergy the main pedophiles of the country.  After that, the head of the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers has been  raising the issue of the violation of the vow of celibacy by the  clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church on a daily basis. Pashinyan  assures that he has evidence of the violation of the vow of celibacy  by a number of clergy, in particular Catholicos of All Armenians  Garegin II, who, in his opinion, should resign. He promises to  provide evidence if the latter decide to challenge his accusations in  court. For now, he has decided to create a special coordination group  to remove the Catholicos, and every morning he begins with a demand  to free the Patriarchate. And he does this, according to him, solely  out of a desire to cleanse . It  is noteworthy that the campaign against the Armenian Church coincided  with Pashazade's statements that the Armenian Apostolic Church poses  a threat to the countries of the region and that "Western  Azerbaijanis should return to their ancestral lands."