Deputy Speaker of the Armenian National Assembly Ruben Rubinyan has responded to the recently released recordings by the Investigative Committee, which involve conversations between leaders and members of the “Holy Struggle” movement.

“Now, bishop, even ‘foreign power centers’ won’t save you. From now on, you will be dealing solely with Armenian power centers,” Rubinyan wrote on Facebook.

He continued sarcastically: “Ktrich Nersisyan, quickly issue a statement defending your bishop who, by your blessing, exercises his holy right to shoot people. Say that exposing a shooter is an attack on the Church. Pharisees.”

The tapes include one particularly inflammatory statement: “We’ve done the math. We convince, preach, then you shoot two people against the wall, jail another 15, and that’s it—done. You execute them, give their families compensation for life, and they’ll be happy.”