During the preliminary investigation of the criminal proceedings conducted by the General Department for Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Armenia, a decision was made to initiate public criminal prosecution under Article 422, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia against Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan of the Shirak Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church (Gevorg Artashes Ajapahyan), for making public calls—via mass media and communication technologies—for the usurpation of power and the violent overthrow of the constitutional order. In connection with this, on June 27, 2025, a decision was made to detain the accused Gevorg Ajapahyan, who is currently at large, in order to submit a motion to the court for applying arrest as a preventive measure.

The implementation of this decision was entrusted to the National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia. The National Security Service of the Republic of Armenia urges all citizens to refrain from escalating the situation and not to obstruct the enforcement of lawful decisions by law enforcement bodies. We call on Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan (Gevorg Artashes Ajapahyan) not to evade law enforcement bodies and to present himself to the National Security Service operative team awaiting him.