Imprisoned Archbishop Galstanyan appeals to US Vice President JD Vance from Yerevan prison

(Horizon Weekly / YEREVAN) — Imprisoned Armenian Apostolic Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan has written to U.S. Vice President JD Vance from Yerevan Kentron Prison, urging action to secure the release of Armenian prisoners of conscience held in Yerevan, the freedom of Armenian hostages held in Azerbaijan, and international guarantees enabling the return of Armenians forcibly displaced from Artsakh.

In the February 2, 2026 letter, Galstanyan states he has been imprisoned for seven months as part of a campaign by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government to silence dissent and bring the Armenian Apostolic Church under state control. He writes that Armenia’s security apparatus has targeted him through surveillance, fabricated evidence, interrogation, slander, and incarceration.

Galstanyan describes his imprisonment as retaliation for public advocacy carried out in a non-violent spirit and rooted in Christian witness. He writes that he has sought to bring faith and testimony into the public sphere during a national crisis, calling on the Armenian nation and state to remain faithful to Armenia’s historic Christian tradition.

The Archbishop says he is not the only cleric imprisoned, naming other senior church figures as likewise incarcerated, and pointing to broader pressure against the Armenian Apostolic Church and its supporters. He also cites the imprisonment of lay church patron Samvel Karapetyan, adding that Karapetyan’s company has been nationalized by the state.

In the letter, Galstanyan warns that the campaign targets the Church because it is defending the rights of Armenians displaced from Artsakh following Azerbaijan’s 2023 takeover. He emphasizes the Church’s continued demands for the return of Armenian hostages and detainees, and for the right of Artsakh Armenians to return to their homes with their fundamental rights protected.

Galstanyan states that both the Armenian government and the Azerbaijani authorities have branded the Church an “obstacle to peace,” while the Church continues the historic role it has played for centuries in safeguarding Armenian identity and national cohesion.

He links the current pressure on the Church to wider geopolitical stakes, warning of efforts to strip Armenia of its Christian heritage and subordinate it economically and militarily within a broader Turkic regional sphere shaped by Turkey and Azerbaijan.

Addressing Vice President Vance directly, Galstanyan urges U.S. leadership to ground diplomacy in justice and human rights. He calls for two immediate priorities: securing the release of Armenian Christian political prisoners held in Yerevan and Baku, and obtaining enforceable guarantees for the safe return — with full rights intact — of approximately 150,000 Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh.

He closes with a biblical appeal, urging that the same moral clarity applied to defending civilizational identity be extended to Armenia and its people as U.S. engagement in the region continues. Vance is expected to travel to Armenia in the coming weeks.