Armenian Catholicos Faces Criminal Charges, Travel Ban

Armenian prosecutors have opened a criminal case against the country’s highest religious figure, Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II.

In addition to the criminal charges, the Catholicos was also banned from travelling abroad, according to lawyer Ara Zohrabyan. The timing of the ban coincides with a major assembly of Armenian bishops scheduled to meet in Austria this week and prevented the Catholicos from attending.

The charges are based on the Catholicos’ decision to defrock Bishop Saroyan, who previously publicly called for the Catholicos’ resignation. Bishop Saroyan was initially removed from his managerial position as diocesan head in January, before the courts ordered the church to reinstate him temporarily. The Catholicos responded by defrocking him entirely.

Prosecutors argue that the defrocking constitutes an illegal obstruction of the court order, a claim that critics of the prosecution cite as the latest in a long series of government actions designed to reduce the independence of the Armenian Apostolic Church in managing its internal affairs.

Human rights watchdogs and religious freedom advocates have begun to speak out against the government activity, with one analyst telling International Christian Concern (ICC) in a private interview that the criminal charges represent an unprecedented escalation and indicate a clear violation of the church’s rightful independence.

This week’s events come amid an acrimonious conflict that has grown over the last year between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the Armenian Apostolic Church, in which Pashinyan has repeatedly called for the resignation of the Catholicos and insisted on unprecedented levels of government oversight and influence over church affairs.

Last week, U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited Armenia, marking the first time a sitting U.S. president or vice president has visited the country. Among other stops, he and his wife visited a memorial commemorating the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century. A social media post by Vice President Vance referring to the genocide was swiftly deleted, with White House officials blaming a social media staffer for the reference.

While President Joe Biden acknowledged the genocide in 2021, no other president has acknowledged the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Turks in the 1910s as a genocide. This hesitance is often attributed to strong Turkish influence over the U.S.

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The post Armenian Catholicos Faces Criminal Charges, Travel Ban first appeared on International Christian Concern.

https://persecution.org/2026/02/18/armenian-catholicos-faces-criminal-charges-travel-ban/