Ex-Soviet state arrests opposition cleric on terrorism charges

Bagrat Galstanyan sought to overthrow the government during protests in 2024, Armenia’s Investigative Committee has charged

Armenian authorities have arrested a high-profile cleric for alleged terrorism and attempts to stage a coup last year, according to the country’s Investigative Committee and footage on social media.

Bagrat Galstanyan was a key leader in the demonstrations calling for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to step down after he agreed to return several border villages to Azerbaijan. The move was meant to help mend still tenuous relations between the two former Soviet republics.

In a statement on Wednesday, the Investigative Committee accused a movement called ‘Holy Struggle’, as well as its leaders, including Galstanyan, of harboring plans “to carry out terrorist acts and actions aimed at seizing power in Armenia.” Officials said that while the movement tried last summer to achieve its goals by fueling protests, it later decided to change its tactics, preparing “actions of small strike groups.”

The Committee also accused the movement of laying the groundwork for the use of force, including recruiting more than 1,000 people, gathering intelligence required to disable traffic lights and electricity in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and acquiring “thousands of incendiary devices intended for explosions.”

According to local media, Galstanyan was taken into custody by security forces, with his home being searched.

Pashinyan responded to the reports, saying, without mentioning Galstanyan by name, that law enforcement had foiled a “large and shameful plan of the ‘criminal oligarchic clergy’ to destabilize the Republic of Armenia.”

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