A young Armenian cleric, Very Reverend Anania Koujanian, was found murdered in his home in the Bekka Valley region of Lebanon on Saturday.
Koujanian was one of the up-and-coming clergy serving the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia and served as the Lebanon Prelacy’s vicar of the Zahleh and Ainjar communities.
A preliminary investigation has revealed that Koujanian had left the Bourj Hammoud neighborhood of Beirut and arrived at his apartment where Syrian laborers reportedly were working, making repairs in his residence. An announcement said that laborers allegedly stabbed Koujanian, stole the cross he was wearing, and, after robbing residence, fled the scene.
“As a result of the brutal crime, the victim was stabbed several times with sharp objects and knives in different parts of his body,” the announcement said.
The Armenian Revolutionary Federation Central Committee of Lebanon condemned the attack and the murder.
“A terrible crime was committed when the body of Very Rev. Anania Kujanyan was discovered, with visible signs of torture that preceded the viscous attack,” the ARF said in its announcement.
The ARF Central Committee called on law enforcement bodies to “swiftly and decisively investigate the details of this terrible crime,” and bring those responsible to justice.
“Justice must be served swiftly,” the ARF Central Committee demanded.
“We strongly condemn the crime of the murder of this loving and engaged cleric, the Very Rev. Anania Gujanian, yesterday after being brutally tortured. We emphasize the need for self-restraint and not to be provoked by a personal act, expressing confidence in the security forces to identify and prosecute the perpetrators in order to subject the perpetrator to the strictest punishment,” the Lebanon ARF Central Committee’s chairperson, Hagop Pakradouni, said in a post on X.
Also condemning this horrible crime was Lebanon’s President General Joseph Aoun, who called His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia on Monday to offer his condolences.
Aoun strongly condemned the crime and reassured Catholicos Aram I that the country’s law enforcement and security bodies are pursuing the investigations to uncover the crime’s circumstances, arrest the perpetrators, and refer them to the concerned judiciary for severe punishment.
