We not only advocate for the recusal of the prosecutors in this case, but this is also our desire and aspiration. From the very first day, I stated that the accusers are not accusers, but slanderers, and my words are justified. Bagrat Srbazan stated this today, October 2, at the Shengavit residence of the Yerevan Criminal Court of First Instance during the regular court hearing in the case of Bagrat Srbazan, the leader of the “Sacred Struggle” movement, and other members of the movement.
“For about three months now, I have been publicly voicing two questions addressed to the Prosecutor General and the head of the Investigative Committee. One concerns the part that has become a political issue. From the parliamentary podium, not giving each other a chance to speak, the executioners, disguised as victims, constantly spoke of the murder of two people and the imprisonment of 15, which, as you have seen, has absolutely no connection to any topic.
The second thing that was constantly being discussed was the topic of the bus burning. I am now publicly asking the question of those acting as prosecutors, whom, by the way, I congratulate; they also received a title and a medal a few days ago. You can express your deep gratitude for this topic to Archbishop Mikhail, and I am sure that Samvel Karapetyan will do the same in the future.
So, is the topic of the bus burning relevant to this case or not? Secondly, what does the topic of the murder of two people and the imprisonment of 15 people relate to? I won’t discuss the rest, because it is so false and… It’s completely distorted. Where you wrote it, I haven’t touched it, I can’t hear where you changed it. “We’ll get to them, I’m confident in this factual evidence. You’ll have nothing to say at all, if you stay, of course,” he said.
His Holiness Bagrat continued: “On June 28, I had already been in custody for two days; Archbishop Mikael Ajapayan was arrested. His Holiness Mikael was taken to my cell, they started bugging our cell, and an order was issued for three months, while our detention was for two months, until September 28. In other words, it was decided in advance that this detention would be for at least three months, but we were given two months, with the right to wiretap our telephone conversations for three months.
What does this mean? They overheard a conversation between two clergymen, one of whom may have been the other’s spiritual father, or confessor, and shamelessly implicated them in the case, even though they had nothing to do with it, trying to find out where the hiding places were, how they entered our apartments to search them, and where the weapons and ammunition were, which we did. Let me tell you where they are: these weapons are in the basement of the Ijevan police department. From now on, I’m telling you.
According to the indictment, Archbishop Bagrat is accused of having failed to achieve the goal set by him for the movement, namely, the seizure of power in the Republic of Armenia, in a manner permitted by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, within several months from the moment of the implementation of the movement initiated and led by him, starting in November 2024, he began to achieve it in a manner not permitted by the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, and in order to achieve this goal, in a group with a number of participants of the movement: Movses Sharbatyan, Hayk Shahnazaryan, Tigran Topalyan, Lidia Mantashyan, Hrayr Hakobyan, Karo Okumushyan, Artur Sargsyan, Igor Sargsyan, Ara Rostomyan, Arsen Ghazaryan, Arman Israelyan, Aghvan Arshakyan, Armen Aleksanyan, Mihran Makhsudyan, David Galstyan and others, by prior agreement, acquired the necessary funds and tools for committing terrorism and seizing power. They also deliberately created other conditions, thus preparing to usurp power.