Archbishop's Sex Tape Leaked in Armenia: A Criminal Case Opens

Arshak Khachatryan

Armenia's Investigative Committee has started a criminal case about the release of what is said to be sex tapes of Archbishop Arshak Khachatryan of Holy Etchmiadzin.

This action comes as tensions rise between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan's government and the Armenian Apostolic Church. Critics are suggesting that the ruling party recorded and leaked the tape.

The criminal case is based on the law against violating private or family life by using special tech to gather information. It began after the Union of Informed Citizens, a group in Yerevan, complained on October 25 about the release of explicit videos of Khachatryan on a newly created Telegram channel. The Prosecutor General's Office passed the case to the Investigative Committee to decide if a full investigation is needed.

The committee has stated that an investigator will look into the complaint and a decision will be made soon. Officials haven't said if Khachatryan has been questioned or if they know where the recording came from.

Opposition politicians and rights groups are calling the leak a major privacy violation and a bad sign for the future. They say these actions go against individual rights and show a rise in state spying and politically motivated attacks.

The government has publicly spoken out against the release of the video. Arayik Harutyunyan, the Prime Minister's chief of staff, said he hasn't seen the video but believes the National Security Service (NSS) is taking steps to find out how this happened. He has asked Khachatryan to contact law enforcement.

Opposition MP Artsvik Minasyan has wondered if the NSS filmed the videos and wants answers if that's the case. He has also called for an investigation into rumors that people in Pashinyan's administration were involved in the leak. Harutyunyan has denied any government involvement in the release of the videos, calling the claims politically motivated.

Khachatryan, a strong critic of Pashinyan, has only said that claims of him being in the video, or that the video is even real, are vile slander. The church hasn't directly commented on the situation, but senior clergy have privately called it an attack on the Church itself.

Earlier in the year, Pashinyan publicly argued with clergy, accusing Khachatryan of being morally corrupt and immoral and shameless in speeches. What started as a disagreement between church leaders and the government about their relationship with Catholicos Karekin II is becoming a political and moral fight.