The court kept Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan under house arrest.

The Yerevan Criminal Court extended the house arrest of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan for another two months, allowing him to attend the baptism next Saturday at the church of Jrvizha.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on June 18, it became known that the court extended the house arrest for three months of Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, allowing him to attend the liturgy in Echmiadzin once a week.

The decision was made at a session of the Yerevan Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction on September 24, chaired by Judge Karen Farhoyan, reports 1lurer.am, citing the press secretary of the Anti-Corruption Courts of Armenia, Armine Novruzian.

The prosecutor requested an extension of house arrest for 3 months. The archbishop is also allowed to attend the baptism next Saturday at the church of Jrvizha, reports News.am.

The Public Relations and Information Center of the Office of the Prime Minister of Armenia published a report on September 24 titled "On the crisis arising in the Armenian Apostolic Church as a result of the activities of the de facto head of the Church and a number of high-ranking clergy, and ways to resolve it," which was prepared as part of the Armenian government's program for 2026–2031 at the request of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

In Holy Echmiadzin, it was stated that the report, compiled at the expense of misappropriated state funds based on accusations and defamatory statements published on social media and in the media, is an expression of political retribution, vindictiveness, and condemned interference in the internal life of the Church.

"It is obvious that it is the authorities of Armenia who are making efforts to create an artificial crisis in church life. Any reform processes dictated by arbitrary political approaches, manipulations, and coercion are unacceptable. The processes of overcoming the challenges facing the Armenian Church and its reform must be carried out solely based on the decisions of the highest canonical bodies of the Church," the statement of the Armenian Apostolic Church reads.

In the Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin, it was stated that such a condemned policy of belittling the Church, undermining the authority of the clergy can never serve the good of the homeland and the Armenian people living around the world, strengthening unity, and especially resisting existing challenges in the face of external security threats.

Let us remind you that Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan previously sharply criticized the church at a government meeting, and in response to objections from Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, he replied with insults on Facebook*. Armenian politicians and church representatives demanded an apology from Pashinyan for insulting the church.

The court also sentenced the head of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Archbishop Mikael Aghajanyan, to two years in prison. The defense intends to appeal the verdict, and the court is continuing to hear the case against Bagrat Galstanyan. The head of the Aragatsotn Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan, and priest Garegin Arsenyan were arrested in a case involving accusations of coercion to participate in meetings.