“The goal is obvious: to disrupt the Bishops’ Council scheduled for February in Austria,” says human rights activist Ruben Melikyan, referring to the new wave of persecution of the clergy of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
As a reminder, the bishops who are members of the Supreme Spiritual Council were served with subpoenas and summoned to the Investigative Department on charges of “obstructing the execution of a judicial act.”
“They will be held accountable as defendants and subject to preventive measures in the form of incommunicado detention. They will be prohibited from leaving Armenia. They will thus attempt to disrupt the Bishops’ Council because they fear the outcome of the Council,” says human rights activist Melikyan.
He emphasizes that not only the members of the Supreme Spiritual Council, but also His Holiness the Patriarch, are considered de facto “accused.”
“And when this is officially formalized against His Holiness the Patriarch, when he is declared ‘accused’ in the documents, it’s only a matter of time. At any moment, such disgrace could befall the Catholicos of All Armenians, and I am very curious: who will sign this decision? First and foremost, the prosecutor’s office, since it is the prosecutor’s office that is prosecuting the criminal who will be subjected to this grave sin—recognizing the Catholicos of All Armenians as ‘accused’?”