Recently Deceased Armenian Archbishop Was Awaiting Trial on Child Abuse Charges

Prior to his death on March 16 at the age of 81, Archbishop Davit Sahakyan of the Armenian Diocese of France was awaiting trial on sexual child abuse charges, Armenian Haykakan Zhamanak daily reports, citing the French Le Progrés news agency. 

Sexual assault and rape allegations against the Archbishop came in 2013 from a man of Lebanese origin named Hrayr. He claimed that in 1990, at the age of 13, he was forced to perform oral sex on Sahakyan, in addition to being subjected to other forms of sexual violence, at an Armenian monastery in Jerusalem. In 1990, Sahakyan was the Grand Sacristan of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

“Hrayr has also made allegations against two other high-ranking clerics from the Armenian monastery in Jerusalem, claiming that he had been sexually assaulted by them up until turning 19,” the paper writes.