ARMENIA: Prime Minister seeks to change leadership of legally autonomous Armenian Church

Officials have not responded to questions why Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has repeatedly called for the removal of the head of the Armenian Church, Catholicos Karekin, despite the constitutionally-guaranteed autonomy of religious organisations. A bishop Karekin defrocked for backing Pashinyan's calls challenged his dismissal in court. When the Church ignored his court-ordered reinstatement, the Investigative Committee launched a criminal investigation into six bishops and a priest, banning them from leaving Armenia. The government has liquidated the state and church funded Shoghakat television channel and ended the Church-run military chaplaincy.