Yerevan’s Court of General Jurisdiction has extended the pre-trial detention of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan, Chancellor of the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, by two months.

Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan was detained on December 5, 2025 on charges that he orchestrated the planting of drugs in the backpack of a demonstrator at a 2018 protest against Catholicos Karekin II.

Etchmiadzin has condemned Khachatryan's arrest as politically motivated and called for his release. Khachatryan's lawyer describes the charges against his client as "absurd".

Khachatryan was detained a day after the National Security Service (NSS) detained him as he left the Investigative Committee, where he had been summoned over a leaked intimate video allegedly depicting him.