Travel Ban Imposed on Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan

The measure of restraint imposed on Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, director of the External Relations and Protocol Department of the Mother See, is a travel ban. Previously, members of the Supreme Spiritual Council, including Nathan, Vahan, and Haikazun, were summoned for questioning by the Investigative Committee.

In a conversation with reporters, Vahan's lawyer Marine Farmanyan noted that this is a unique case where the court intervenes in the affairs of the church. 'Vahan has received a notice to appear as a defendant at the Investigative Committee. As for the Supreme Patriarch, he is inviolable; this is an adventure and directed against the state,' she said.

‘The Supreme Spiritual Council has not made a decision but has decided to propose to the Catholicos of All Armenians because the excommunication is the prerogative of the Catholicos, and no one can annul such a decision or intervene, just like the Catholicos of All Armenians,’ said Bishop Nathan in a conversation with reporters after the questioning.

Travel bans have also been placed on Bishop Hovhannes Hakobyan, the leader of the Gugark Diocese, Bishop Makary Hakobyan, the leader of the Syunik Diocese, Bishop Haikazun Najaryan, the director of Church and Youth Training Programs, and Bishop Mushegh Babayan, the director of the Mother See's Administrative and Economic Department.