‘Painful,’ ‘Humiliating’ and ‘Something That Should Never Have Happened’: Supporters Condemn Karekin II Court Case as ‘Terror Against a 1,725-Year-Old Institution’
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INTERVIEWS: As Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II appeared in court in an unprecedented criminal case Friday, supporters gathered outside described the moment as painful, humiliating and deeply unsettling for a nation whose church has survived centuries of war, foreign rule and political upheaval.
The Armenian Report spoke with filmmakers, activists and political figures outside the Vagharshapat courthouse, where the first criminal proceedings against a sitting Catholicos in modern Armenian history opened before abruptly ending when the judge recused himself.
For documentary filmmaker Gagik Harutyunyan, seeing the Catholicos enter a courtroom was difficult to reconcile with the image of the Church leader he had known since childhood.
Harutyunyan recalled watching the Catholicos address Armenians on New Year's Day and major Christian holidays. As a child, he said, the figure on television seemed distant from ordinary life — the leader of an institution he viewed with reverence.
On Friday, that image changed.
"Today, however, we see him in a completely different setting — standing before a court, in an ordinary, human situation," Harutyunyan told The Armenian Report. "As a follower of the Armenian Apostolic Church and as a young Armenian, this is deeply shocking to me."
He said the sight carried particular weight after years of upheaval for Armenians, including the war over Nagorno-Karabakh, known to Armenians as Artsakh, and the forced displacement of its indigenous Armenian population.
"After everything that has happened over these years, everything our nation has been through, I did not think there was anything left that could surprise me," Harutyunyan said. "But today, I am not only surprised — I am once again in shock."
What troubled him most, he said, was what the proceedings represented for an institution closely tied to Armenian history and identity.
"Something that should never have happened is happening before our eyes," Harutyunyan said. "All the values we were proud of, all the things we relied upon — particularly this institution, our national institution — are being shaken."
Filmmaker and activist Hovhannes Ishkhanyan viewed the case through a broader human rights lens, arguing that the prosecution raises questions about religious freedom and protections under international law.
"It's just a shame for Armenians, it's a shame for international law and human rights," Ishkhanyan told The Armenian Report.
He rejected the prosecution as a legitimate criminal case and characterized it instead as political persecution of the country's highest-ranking Church leader.
"This is not just an attack against a person who is Karekin II, the Catholicos, but this is a terror against a 1,725-year-old institution," Ishkhanyan said.
The Armenian Apostolic Church has occupied a singular place in Armenian history since the country adopted Christianity as a state religion in the early fourth century. Ishkhanyan pointed to that history, noting that the Church endured successive empires, foreign rule and the Armenian Genocide.
He also linked the current confrontation to the Church's advocacy for Armenians forcibly displaced from Artsakh and those detained in Azerbaijan.
Ishkhanyan said the Church has become an important voice on those issues at a time when questions surrounding the rights of displaced Artsakh Armenians and Armenian detainees remain unresolved.
"We have to understand that the church is the institution which is fighting for the rights of Armenians in this particular era of history," he said.
His criticism extended to Armenia's political leadership. Ishkhanyan accused the government of pursuing the Church because of that advocacy and made broader allegations about the legitimacy of Armenia's government and elections.
Former opposition lawmaker Anna Mkrtchyan was even more explicit, placing responsibility for the confrontation directly on Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
"This is really a shame for Armenian people," Mkrtchyan told The Armenian Report.
Mkrtchyan accused Pashinyan's government of seeking to weaken the Armenian Apostolic Church and Armenian national identity. She also alleged that Armenia's political and judicial institutions are controlled by the prime minister.
"We have to overcome this situation only by changing the power in Armenia," she said.
Her comments reflected the political divisions surrounding a case that began as a dispute over the authority to remove a bishop but has developed into a wider confrontation over the relationship between Armenia's government and its dominant national church.
Inside the courthouse, Friday's proceedings lasted only minutes.
Judge Hakob Manukyan recused himself at the opening hearing. Defense lawyer Ara Zohrabyan said Manukyan cited his previous work as an attorney and concerns that the connection could create doubts about his impartiality.
"I welcome the judge's decision from the standpoint that he refused to become part of this shameful process," Zohrabyan told reporters afterward.
The case will now be assigned to another judge, who will set a new preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors accuse Karekin II and six members of the Supreme Spiritual Council of failing to comply with a court order involving Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, the former primate of the Masyatsotn Diocese.
The order called for Saroyan's temporary reinstatement while his civil lawsuit against the Church is pending. Prosecutors allege Church leaders deliberately obstructed enforcement of the ruling after Saroyan was defrocked despite the order and notifications from the enforcement service.
The Armenian Apostolic Church disputes the state's authority in the matter. Church leaders maintain that the appointment, removal and ecclesiastical status of bishops are governed by canon law and fall within the Church's internal jurisdiction.
Saroyan was removed in January over what the Church described as abuse of office, negligence and pressure against clergy. He has since aligned himself with bishops calling for Karekin II's resignation.
But outside the courthouse Friday, the legal arguments were only part of what brought people to Vagharshapat.
For those interviewed by The Armenian Report, the image itself carried meaning: the Catholicos of All Armenians walking into a criminal court.
When the hearing ended, Karekin II left the courthouse surrounded by clergy and supporters. They walked together toward the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, where the Catholicos joined the faithful in prayer.
The case will return to court after a new judge is appointed. For those who gathered Friday, however, the first hearing had already marked a moment they believed Armenians would remember long after the legal proceedings are over.
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