Ex-ombudsman accuses Pashinyan of sponsoring ‘criminal acts’ at Hovhannavank

Former Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan, head of the Wings of Unity political group, has accused Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of “sponsoring criminal acts” during a church service at Hovhannavank.

In a social media post on Thursday, Tatoyan accused Pashinyan and his Civil Contract party of “a deliberate scheme of falsehoods” aimed at “destroying the state, dividing the people and undermining the Armenian Apostolic Church and national values.”

The controversy follows the defrocking of Fr. Aram Asatryan by Catholicos Karekin II on October 21. Asatryan, now a layman under the name Stepan Asatryan, said he would still celebrate a mass at the church on Sunday, prompting Pashinyan to announce he would attend it.

Tatoyan claimed Asatryan “enjoys Pashinyan’s personal protection” and that his actions were “clearly coordinated”. He also dismissed the claims that the priest’s defrocking is regulated under labor law, insisting that such matters are governed exclusively by church canons.