Armenian premier`s statement order to Prosecutor`s Office - lawyers 

ArmInfo.  The group of lawyers of Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan considers today's statement by RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan as an order or instruction addressed to the prosecutor's office and the investigative body to carry out  procedural actions. This is stated in the statement of the group of  lawyers of the archbishop.

It is noted that on July 7, Nikol Pashinyan made a public post on his  Facebook page, in which he also noted the following: "In this case,  no territory of the enlarged community of Vagharshapat can be closed  to the activities of law enforcement agencies."

The group of lawyers of the archbishop considers this statement of  the prime minister as an instruction addressed to law enforcement  agencies to conduct a search or arrests in the Mother See of  Etchmiadzin.

Lawyer Ruben Melikyan also responded to the prime minister's post.  "The supreme blasphemer actually ordered an illegal search of the  Patriarchate. All law enforcement officers who will take part in this  "operation" will be identified by me one by one and qualified as  criminals who committed the Armenian Genocide in 1915," Melikyan  wrote.

Today RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan once again made threats  against Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II. On his Facebook page,  he noted that if Ktrich Nersisyan (Garegin II) considers the  detention of Vazgen Galstanyan (Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan) and  Gevorg Ajapakhyan (Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan) illegal, then he  shares the ideology and plans of the above-mentioned persons to carry  out a military coup and create chaos in the country. "In this case,  not a single territory of the enlarged Vagharshapat community can be  closed to the activities of law enforcement agencies. Moreover,  thanks to Ktrich and several other persons, these territories are  used for adultery," Nikol Pashinyan wrote.

On May 29, at a government meeting, Pashinyan said that Armenian  churches resemble "closets filled with junk." The next day, he  published a harsh post on social media, in which he used rude  language towards the hierarchs of the AAC and accused one of the  archbishops of sexual promiscuity. At the same time, the prime  minister demanded that all priests, including the Catholicos of All  Armenians, who violated their vow of celibacy, be defrocked. The  prime minister's wife Anna Hakobyan made similar attacks, calling the  patriarch "the main mafioso" and those criticizing the "silencing" of  churches "the main pedophiles of the country." These statements  provoked a sharp reaction from the clergy. Amid the scandal, the  prime minister proposed changing the procedure for electing the head  of the AAC so that the state would have a decisive vote in the  elections, and candidates would undergo an ethics check. It should  also be noted that Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan and several of his  supporters were arrested on June 25 after large-scale searches and  detentions. The Investigative Committee reported that an attempt at  an armed seizure of power had been prevented. Galstanyan and his  associates are accused of "preparing terrorist acts and mass riots,  and attempting to seize power." A case was opened against Archbishop  Ajapakhyan on charges of calling for the seizure of power and the  renunciation of sovereignty. On June 29, he was arrested for two  months.