Their lawyers maintain that Armenian courts and law-enforcement bodies have no jurisdiction over internal church affairs. The case was initially assigned to Hakob Manukian, a judge of the court of first instance in the Armavir province. Some critics of the Armenian government have suggested that Manukian simply did not want to become the first Armenian judge to try a Catholicos. Datalex.am also shows that another Armavir judge, Serzh Rushanian, has taken over the case. The criminal proceedings against Garegin have been condemned by not only the Armenian opposition but also key Armenian Diaspora organizations.