Judge in case involving Catholicos Karekin II and six bishops refers jurisdiction issue to Court of Cassation

Judge Vahagn Melikyan of the Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Yerevan has applied to the Court of Cassation to finally resolve the issue of territorial jurisdiction in the criminal case involving Catholicos Karekin II and six bishops.

The court applied to the Court of Cassation on the basis of Part 4 of Article 263 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia.

Under the Criminal Procedure Code, if a court of general jurisdiction of first instance that has received proceedings according to jurisdiction disagrees with the territorial jurisdiction of the case, it must, before scheduling preliminary hearings, decide to refer the proceedings to the President of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation.

The same article stipulates that in such a case, the President of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation must finally resolve the issue of jurisdiction within five days of the decision being received by the Court of Cassation.

Accordingly, the decision of the President of the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Cassation must clarify which court of first instance is competent to hear the criminal case involving Karekin II and the six bishops.

The case had been transferred to the Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Yerevan from the Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Armavir Province.

On August 28, Judge Serzh Rushanyan of the Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Armavir Province decided to send the case to the Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Yerevan. The decision was based on the fact that the wording of the charges attributed to Karekin II did not specify the location of the alleged offence.

The case materials were received by the Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Yerevan on September 1, after which the criminal case was assigned to Judge Vahagn Melikyan.

Before that, the case had initially been filed with the Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Armavir Province for examination and assigned to Judge Hakob Manukyan.

The first court hearing in the case was held on August 7. During the hearing, Judge Hakob Manukyan recused himself. The case was subsequently reassigned to Judge Serzh Rushanyan, who decided on August 28 to transfer it on jurisdictional grounds to the Criminal Court of General Jurisdiction of the First Instance of Yerevan.

Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II is charged with an offence under Part 2 of Article 507 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia: obstructing the execution of a final court decision through the use of official powers.

Charges under the same article have also been brought against members of the Supreme Spiritual Council Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan, Archbishop Haykazun Najaryan, Bishop Vahan Hovhannisyan, Bishop Makar Hakobyan, Bishop Mushegh Babayan and Bishop Hovnan Hakobyan.

The criminal case is connected with court proceedings concerning the tenure of the former Primate of the Masyatsotn Diocese, Bishop Gevorg Saroyan, now Arman Saroyan.