Armenia jails archbishop over 'coup' plot

Armenia on Friday jailed a senior cleric for two years over alleged calls to overthrow the government, deepening a standoff between Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and the influential Armenian Apostolic Church.

Church leaders urged Pashinyan to resign following Armenia's military defeat by arch-foe Azerbaijan in 2020 and Baku's lighting recapture of the disputed Karabakh region from Armenian separatists in 2023.

On Friday, a Yerevan court found Archbishop Mikael Adjapahyan guilty of "public calls to seize power" and sentenced him to two years behind bars.

His lawyer said the cleric denies wrongdoing and will appeal.

The church condemned in a statement what it called an "illegal trial" and "political vendetta".

Adjapahyan was arrested in June over what prosecutors said were "public statements urging the seizure of power and the violent overthrow of the constitutional order".

Police who came to detain him at Echmiadzin -- the seat of the leader of the Armenian Apostolic Church -- clashed with clergy who had closed the cathedral gates.

The church wields considerable influence in the country, which in the fourth century became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion.

Prime Minister Pashinyan, a former journalist and lawmaker who came to power after protests in 2018, has remained firmly in control of the country despite the embarrassing military defeats, thanks to his parliamentary majority and weak, fragmented opposition forces.