YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) — The head of the influential Armenian Apostolic Church appeared in court Friday for a trial on criminal charges as part of its latest confrontation with the government of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.Catholicos Karekin II and six other senior clergymen are accused of defying a court order to reinstate a defrocked bishop. The case is widely seen as a part of long-simmering tensions between Pashinyan, who was reelected earlier this year, and the church, which has called for his ouster.If convicted, Karekin and the other clerics could face up to two years in prison.Relations between the powerful church and Pashinyan’s government have deteriorated rapidly since 2024, when tens of thousands of demonstrators, led by a high-ranking cleric, called for his ouster. They were angered by Armenia’s agreement to hand over control of several border villages to Azerbaijan and normalize relations with its neighbor after being locked for decades in territorial disputes.Many clergy bitterly opposed the handover of the villages and criticized Pashinyan, who came to power in the South Caucasus nation amid a wave of hopeful, pro-democracy protests that swept Armenia in 2018. Some senior clerics have since faced a crackdown by the government.