Pashinyan accused of interfering in criminal probe into archbishop

The legal team representing Archbishop Mikayel Ajapahyan, head of the Shirak Diocese currently held in a two-month pre-trial detention, has accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of unlawfully interfering in the ongoing criminal investigation.

In a statement issued on Monday, the defense team cited Pashinyan's recent remarks that “no area within the Vagharshapat enlarged community can be off-limits to law enforcement operations.”

The archbishop’s lawyers argue that the statement constitutes a direct order to the Prosecutor General’s Office and investigative authorities to take procedural actions, including searches and arrests, at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin.