{"id":161712,"date":"2025-06-20T15:21:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:21:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/?p=161712"},"modified":"2025-06-20T15:49:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T11:49:54","slug":"the-church-and-karapetyan-victims-of-political-persecution-says-eurasianet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abcmedia.am\/en\/politics\/161712\/","title":{"rendered":"The Church and Karapetyan: Victims of political persecution, says Eurasianet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Karapetyan made comments supporting the Armenian Apostolic Church. Earlier in June, Pashinyan accused the Church’s primate, Karekin II, of violating his priestly vows of celibacy by fathering a child. The Church has not directly responded to the allegation.<\/p>\n

The website notes that Pashinyan reacted to Karapetyan’s criticism by going for the political jugular, authorizing Karapetyan’s detention on suspicion of anti-state activities, adding that the electricity entity that he controls should be nationalized. Pashinyan accused Karapetyan of engineering a power shortage in the country specifically designed to foment public discontent with the government. He gave the power company until June 21 to establish “a mechanism for restoring damage caused to citizens,” or face a government take-over.<\/p>\n

Pashinyan’s power play drew a swift reply from Moscow in the form of a media barrage condemning his actions. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova derided Pashinyan as a hypocrite.<\/p>\n

The Armenian Apostolic Church also has come to Karapetyan’s defense, calling him a “national benefactor.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Karapetyan’s lawyer said his client is a victim of political persecution.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"