The court found Archbishop Ajapakhian guilty of calling for the seizure of power.

The court found the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, guilty of "public calls for the seizure of power in Armenia." The archbishop denied the charge.

As reported by Caucasian Knot, in early September, a Yerevan court extended the pretrial detention of Mikael Ajapayan, the primate of the Shirak Diocese, for another month. He is accused of inciting a coup d'état.

A Yerevan court found Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhian guilty under Part 2 of Article 422 of the Criminal Procedure Code (public calls for the seizure of power, violation of territorial integrity, renunciation of sovereignty, and the violent overthrow of the constitutional order). The pretrial detention measure was upheld, NEWS.am reports.

At a hearing on September 29, Judge Armine Meliksetyan will announce the Archbishop's sentence. Ajapakhian denies the charges. He and his defense team claim that the head of the Shirak Diocese is being subjected to political persecution as part of government efforts to suppress the clergy, Armenia Today reports.

The archbishop's charges are based on an interview he gave a year ago, in which he spoke of the need for a coup. A year ago, however, the Armenian Prosecutor General's Office found no criminal offense in those same statements and did not open a case. Now, the prosecution claims that the defendant made similar statements in June 2025, the publication clarifies.