RA Investigative Committee  presents details of  criminal case  against Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan

ArmInfo.  The Investigative Committee (IC) of Armenia presented details of the criminal  proceedings against Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, head of the  chancery of the Mother See of Etchmiadzin.

Recall, on December 5, Judge Masis Melkonyan, who had previously  arrested Archbishops Mikael Ajapahyan and Bagrat Galstanyan, granted  the investigator's motion to remand Khachatryan in custody for two  months. The archbishop was detained the day before at the entrance to  the Investigative Committee after being questioned regarding the  "video recording case." It later became known that the archbishop was  accused of planting drugs in the bag of a protester against His  Holiness in 2018, allegedly for the purpose of discrediting him. The  Investigative Committee of Armenia later reported that a criminal  case had been initiated under Article 393, Part 2, Clauses 1 and 4 of  the Russian Criminal Code (illegal sale of narcotics committed by a  group of persons by prior agreement in a public place). As lawyer  Arsen Babayan stated after the court's decision was announced, "there  is no direct evidence against the hierarch, only the assumptions of  various individuals."

According to the Investigative Committee, the General Department for  Investigation of Particularly Important Cases at the Investigative  Committee has reopened a criminal case dated July 20, 2018, under  Part 1, Article 266 of the former Criminal Code of the Republic of  Armenia, regarding the illegal sale of marijuana by an unknown person  to A.A. at the reception  of the Chancellery of the Mother See of  Holy Etchmiadzin of the Armenian Apostolic Church.

It is noted that in July 2018, in the reception room of the  Chancellery of Holy Etchmiadzin, citizen S.Kh.  (Samvel Khachatryan,  the secular name of Archbishop Arshak - ed.), along with Deacon S.T.  and another person (identity not yet established), illegally planted  marijuana in the backpack of citizen A.A., a protest participant.

"On S.Kh.'s instructions, Chancellery Secretary S.T. took a photo of  G.A.'s backpack hanging in the reception room with his phone, sent  the photo via Viber to S.Kh., after which the criminal group members  planted marijuana in the backpack," the report states.

Then, according to the Investigative Committee, Archbishop  Khachatryan allegedly told Deacon S.T. to call the police and report  suspicious items on the protesters. He also sent a police officer a  photo of the backpack where the drugs were found. The investigation  is ongoing.

The department noted that on December 4, 2025, based on a petition  from the investigation, the prosecutor launched a case on charges of  illegal drug trafficking. The archbishop was detained and later  arrested that same day. The preliminary investigation is ongoing.

It should be noted that in Armenia, the first country in the world to  adopt Christianity as a state religion, the fourth high-ranking  hierarch has been taken into custody. Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan,  Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, head of the Shirak Diocese of the  Armenian Apostolic Church, and Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, primate of  the Aragatsotn Diocese, are currently in pretrial detention.