Armenian Apostolic ChurchBritish lawmaker claims Pashinyan waging ‘unprecedented campaign on church freedom’The Armenian leader openly wants to oust the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Share▲Sir Edward Leigh during the debate at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe on Tuesday. Photo: PACE TVSir Edward Leigh, a British MP, took aim at Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s treatment of the Armenian Apostolic Church at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on Tuesday. During a debate, Leigh — who represents the UK’s right-wing Conservative party — said the Armenian Church was ‘facing an unprecedented threat, not from an external invader, but from the government itself’. After declaring himself ‘neutral in terms of Armenian politics,’ the British lawmaker singled out the Armenian leader, claiming that ‘under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the current administration has abandoned any boundary between church and state, and is launching an unprecedented campaign on church freedom.’ Catholicos Karekin II is facing criminal charges along with several senior clergy members surrounding their refusal to reinstate a bishop, who supported Pashinyan’s reforms. The case against Karekin II has been controversial within Armenia and mired by three judges and a prosecutor dropping out of the case. Pashinyan has been open about his intention to topple the Catholicos. The latest development is a proposal for a parliamentary committee to investigate the Church. The outcomes of such a committee could potentially lead to legislative changes that would affect the Church’s governance. Leigh claimed that ‘what we are witnessing is not a mere political disagreement, it is a calculated attack on religious autonomy. Over the past year, the state has actively engaged in the unlawful detention and arrest of the clergy, harassment of church workers’.He also purported that ‘following their secured parliamentary majority, this campaign has shifted now into overdraft.’ Leigh noted that ‘in just the last few weeks the government published a state-ordered report attacking the canonical structure of the church and threatened to launch a parliamentary inquiry to forcibly change church statutes’, The British lawmaker characterised ‘using state mechanisms to overwrite ancient’ as ‘a flagrant violation of human rights and religious freedom.’ Hripsime Grigoryan, a member of Armenia’s delegation to PACE, rebutted the comments, which she described as ‘very ill-informed’. Without giving evidence, the delegate claimed that ‘the person who is currently occupying the seat of the Catholicos is a person who is directly engaged in unlawful actions towards overthrowing the state of Armenia’ and that ‘bishops are not arrested for being bishops there are criminal cases against them’. She claimed the ruling Civil Contract party was ‘protecting the Church’ through its lawsuit against its leaders. On X, Leigh doubled down, claiming: ‘The Council of Europe is nothing if it does not stand up for religious freedom. We must call out the persecution by the Armenian Government of the oldest Christian Church in the world, the Armenian Apostolic Church. We are talking about arrests of clergy and the Government putting their desire to control the church in their manifesto.’ Pashinyan included the aim of removing Karekin II from his post in his Civil Contract party’s election manifesto. Following their victory, the plan was included in the government’s official programme. It isn’t the first time that Leigh — the oldest male MP in Britain’s lower house, earning him the moniker ‘Father of the House’ – has controversially waded into Armenian politics. In 2025 Pashinyan fired back after the British lawmaker described a proposal for a transport connection – including roads, railways, and energy pipelines — between Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave through Armenia as the ‘Zangezur corridor’. The phrase has frequently been used by Azerbaijani officials, with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev using the term to refer to the Trump Route, a plan for regional transit and infrastructure links. Armenia rejects the terminology and says any transport routes crossing its territory must remain under Armenian sovereignty and jurisdiction. Leigh asked Pashinyan whether the ‘Zangezur corridor’ would serve Armenian interests as much as Azerbaijani. Pashinyan said that Yerevan had never signed a document mentioning such a corridor, reinforcing that ‘There is no such expression, there has not been one, and rest assured there will not be one in any Armenia–Azerbaijan agreed document’. Before becoming an editor at OC Media, Elizabeth studied German and Russian at university and worked for CNN International and the Guardian in London, England. She was a fan of the Em dash before ChatGPT was. Such an investigation could potentially lead to legislative changes affecting the Church’s governance. The criminal case against Karekin II and six senior clerics was launched earlier in 2026. On Pashinyan’s conflict with the Church and his plans to oust Catholicos Karekin II. The resignation comes days after the third judge in a row withdrew from the case. 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