The funeral of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II, who died at the age of 93 on March 17, is scheduled for Sunday in Tbilisi.
Garegin II, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, was indicted in February in connection with an ongoing criminal case linked to his refusal to comply with a court order to reinstate a defrocked bishop. The case is tied to a broader dispute involving Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his campaign to oust Garegin II as the church leader.
The indictment led to a ban on Garegin II’s travel abroad, imposed days before a planned visit to Austria for a meeting of senior clergy that Pashinian had implicitly pledged to block.
According to Garegin II’s lawyer, Ara Zohrabian, a request was submitted earlier this week asking investigators to lift or ease the travel restrictions so the catholicos could attend Ilia II’s funeral following an official invitation.
Armenia’s Investigative Committee declined the request. Zohrabian said the decision rejecting the motion was received on March 21.
“This is another obviously illegal decision that will cause great damage to the reputation of our country,” Zohrabian wrote on Facebook.
Tensions between the Armenian government and the Church escalated into an open confrontation last year as Pashinian first accused Garegin II of violating his vow of celibacy and later described him as a threat to national security, alleging he serves the interests of a foreign country, an apparent reference to Russia. The prime minister has not provided clear evidence for these claims.
Critics of Pashinian note that the campaign against the catholicos intensified after Garegin II accused Azerbaijan of ethnic cleansing in Nagorno-Karabakh and of destroying the region’s Armenian churches and occupying Armenian border areas during an international conference in Switzerland in May. They argue the Armenian government is thus seeking to appease Azerbaijan or weaken a prominent critic of its policies, allegations Armenian officials have dismissed.