YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — A bishop in the influential Armenian Apostolic Church has been charged with coercing citizens into taking part in public gatherings in the latest in a series of arrests against critics of the country’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

Bishop Mkrtich Proshyan is also accused of using his office to commit large-scale theft and obstruct electoral rights, Armenia’s Investigative Committee said Wednesday.

The Armenian Apostolic Church, whose leaders largely oppose Pashinyan, condemned the arrest as part of a systematic campaign against it. “There is obvious malicious intent to hinder the normal activities of the church,” it said on social media.

Twelve other clergymen from the same diocese were detained with Proshyan, the church said. It did not specify if they were st

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