Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan to file defamation lawsuits, lawyer says

Detained Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan plans to pursue legal action against individuals and media workers accused of defaming him, according to his lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan.

Galstanyan has been placed in pre-trial detention for two months on charges of plotting terrorist attacks and seizure of power in Armenia, strongly rejected by him as politically motivated.

“We’ve decided to file lawsuits against all slanderers for insults and false accusations,” Khudoyan wrote on Facebook on Monday, adding that at least ten legal claims are expected to be filed in court over the coming days.

Khudoyan accused certain political and media circles of deliberately distorting facts and inflaming public opinion through manipulated audio recordings and false narratives. He claimed that statements attributed to the archbishop were taken out of context, while exculpatory evidence was deliberately suppressed by law enforcement agencies, including the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The lawyer also dismissed reports alleging that Galstanyan had planned violent acts, including burning buses or killing civilians, as baseless. He emphasized that no such claims appear in the official case files and have never been cited by investigative bodies.

According to Khudoyan, the Armenian Apostolic Church itself has become the primary target of a campaign aimed at silencing dissent.