ALFA. it: Criminal cases initiated against the Armenian opposition and church leadership met with no international pressure
On September 1, 2026, former Armenian Finance Minister and former head of the State Revenue Committee Gagik Khachatryan was brought to court on a stretcher. His lawyers stated that he suffers from a severe spinal condition and is in severe pain. Khachatryan’s case is the latest in a series of criminal trials against opponents of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, ALFA. it reports.
As noted, in August, former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan and his eldest son, Sedrak, were detained following searches of the offices of several companies associated with their family. The “Armenia” opposition alliance he leads called the case “politically motivated.”
In July, oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan, another prominent opposition politician and businessman, was detained. He is accused of fraud and money laundering.
Pressure on the opposition was evident even before the parliamentary elections in Armenia on June 7. Criminal cases were initiated against several candidates from one of the main opposition forces, the “Strong Armenia” bloc. However, this process was not limited to political opponents.
In August, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Catholicos Karekin II, and six high-ranking clergymen found themselves in the dock.
The pattern is hard to miss: opposition politicians, former presidents, opposition-affiliated businessmen, and now the leadership of the Armenian National Church are all facing criminal charges.
At the same time, the criminal cases brought against the Armenian opposition and church leadership have not met with international pressure.
“If human rights become a political tool, loudly defended when they serve geopolitical goals and silently ignored when they impede a desired union, then the problem is no longer simply one of hypocrisy. It is the transformation of a supposedly universal standard into an instrument of foreign policy. And that has consequences,” the article says.
