03:24, 22 October 2025

The prosecutor's office appealed the verdict against Archbishop Ajapayan.

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The prosecutor's office filed an appeal against the sentence of Archbishop Mikael Ajapayan, Primate of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, asking for his prison term to be increased by six months.

As reported by the "Caucasian Knot", in early October the court sentenced Archbishop Mikael Ajapayan, Primate of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, to two years in prison.

On June 27, security forces detained the head of the Shirak Diocese, Mikael Ajapayan (also referred to in the media as Mikael Ajapakhyan), who voluntarily surrendered to the Investigative Committee. He was charged with calling for the seizure of power, which carries a sentence of two to five years in prison. An attempt to detain the Archbishop of the Armenian Church led to a standoff between security forces and believers.

The Armenian Prosecutor's Office appealed the sentence of Archbishop Mikael Ajapayan, asking the appellate court to increase his prison term by another six months – from two years to two and a half years, News.am reported on October 21.

The defense believes that the prosecutor's office, which filed the appeal so hastily, is attempting to "control" the appointment of judges to the Criminal Court of Appeals and the speedy delivery of a decision. This was reported by the archbishop's legal team.

More details about the case of Ajapayan and other political opponents of the current government are provided in the "Caucasian Knot" report "The Main Thing About Political Arrests in Armenia in the Summer of 2025".

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Translated automatically via Google translate from https://www.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/416541