2025 Armenian coup attempt allegations
| 2025 Armenian coup attempt | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Armenian political crisis (2020–present) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
|
Government of Armenia National Security Service |
Armenian Apostolic Church Sacred Struggle Armenia Alliance | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Nikol Pashinyan Armen Abazyan |
Garegin II Bagrat Galstanyan Mikael Adjapahyan Samvel Karapetyan | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 16 opposition figures, including senior clerics, arrested | |||||||
Following an attempt to oust the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, Garegin II by the Armenian government of Nikol Pashinyan, and further opposition reactions, on June 25, 2025, the National Security Service (NSS) announced that it had arrested Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, who led the 2024 Armenian protests, and 14 other opposition figures. A few days later, Archbishop Mikael Adjapahyan was also arrested.
On 15th February 2026, the Armenian authorities opened a criminal case against Garegin II (officially accusing him of obstructing the enforcement of a court ruling) and restricted him from leaving the country; the Church condemned the move as unlawful and politically motivated. This came one day before the Church’s official Synod meeting.