In late June, 14 members of the Sacred Struggle organization were detained and accused of attempting to seize power. Among those held were two archbishops of the Apostolic Church, the country’s largest, and an Armenian-Russian billionaire, who had spoken in their support.
Investigators claimed to have discovered a number of items they said proved the involvement of the detainees in preparing a coup d’état, including weapons and ammunition, drones, firecrackers, smoke bombs, military equipment, and radio communications equipment.
Foremost among those detained was Archbishop Bagrat (Bagrat Galstanyan), head of the Tavush for the Motherland movement, another name for the Sacred Struggle, which was established in 2024 during a series of protests and marches following an agreement with neighboring Azerbaijan on delimitation of the border. Archbishop Mikael Ajapayan was also arrested.
Read more on the Center for European Policy Analysis.
Emil Avdaliani is a research fellow at the Turan Research Center, a professor of international relations at the European University in Tbilisi, Georgia, and a scholar of Silk Roads. He can be reached on Twitter/X at @emilavdaliani.