Yerevan’s Court of General Jurisdiction has ordered a criminal investigation into the alleged illegal breach of secrecy involving a phone conversation attributed to Bishop Nathan. The decision was announced by lawyer Ara Zohrabyan on his Facebook page.
“As you may recall, on October 17, 2025, civic.am published a report stating that ‘A recording of a phone conversation from October 2023 between Archbishop Nathan Hovhannisyan and former pontifical staff bearer Father Aghan Ernjakyan has surfaced online.’ The same source also published the alleged recording,” Zohrabyan wrote.
On that day, Armenia’s Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under Article 236(3) of the Criminal Code regarding coercing someone to attend a gathering using official authority or influence.
On October 22, 2025, Zohrabyan submitted a report requesting a separate investigation under Article 206, which addresses the unlawful breach of confidentiality of phone conversations.
Predictably, the Investigative Committee rejected this request on October 29, 2025, and the Prosecutor General's Office upheld the refusal on November 18, 2025.
According to Zohrabyan, law enforcement showed no interest in the fact that the published recording appears to have been secretly made—likely using specialized technical equipment for covert surveillance, as it captured conversations between three individuals. It is also possible, he noted, that the conversations were edited or manipulated afterward.
Following the Prosecutor General’s rejection, Zohrabyan appealed to Yerevan’s First Instance Criminal Court (Judge A. Meliksetyan), which ruled in his favor.
The court stated that “there are apparent elements of a crime under Article 206 of the Criminal Code, and the investigator was therefore obligated to initiate criminal proceedings and verify the facts mentioned in the report,” Zohrabyan added.
