Armenian Center for Political Rights  published  report on political  persecution in the country from May to September 2025

ArmInfo. The Armenian Center for Political Rights has published a report, "Injustice in Armenia: Mass Political Persecution," for May to September 2025.

The report details the political persecution that took place between  May and September 2025. The report is divided into four stages: the  criminal prosecution and imprisonment of businessman Samvel  Karapetyan on June 18, members of the "Sacred Struggle" initiative on  June 25, the head of the Shirak Diocese, Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan  on June 27, and members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation  (ARF) Dashnaktsutyun on July 10. Concurrently, Pashinyan's organized  and coordinated campaign against the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC)  continued.  The Center has analyzed the charges brought against them,  the evidence underlying the charges, and other publicly available  data. In addition to specific instances of persecution, the report  presents their context:  factors influenced by domestic and  international politics, as well as the dependence of the judicial  system and human rights violations during the government's campaign.  The appendix to the report presents a detailed analysis of the  wiretapped telephone conversations that formed the basis for the  charges against members of the "Sacred Struggle" movement, as well as  the distortions and falsifications recorded.

The Center also analyzed the charges brought against members of the  "Sacred Struggle" movement, the evidence underlying the charges, and  other publicly available data. In addition to specific instances of  persecution, the report presents their context: factors shaped by  domestic and international politics, as well as the dependence of the  judicial system and human rights violations during the government's  election campaign.  

"During the government's campaign, political opposition figures,  parties, and clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who are being  persecuted by the authorities, are being portrayed as 'terrorists,'  and the campaign itself as 'preventing a revolution.'

While the illegality of the charges and the political nature of the  persecution were obvious from the outset, as in the case of  businessman Karapetyan, in other cases, facts were deliberately  concealed and falsified in order to discredit and denigrate them in  the eyes of the public. Although the aforementioned falsifications  were subsequently exposed, the damage has already been done, and they  have not been legally assessed.

In compiling this report, we recognize that proposals aimed at  ensuring the rule of law and a fair trial will likely be ignored by  the Armenian authorities," the statement reads.

It is noted that despite the fact that months have passed since the  cases described, and the first guilty verdict has already been handed  down, there is still no adequate assessment of the persecution by  international organizations. "Nevertheless, we believe it is  important that the analysis of this important phase of political  persecution be recorded and provided, at least to the extent we were  able to compile it. This part of the report presents exclusively  political persecution during the period from May to September 2025.  In the second part, we will examine persecution during the subsequent  period," the report's summary states.