Letter from “Hakop Gochumyan” from Evin Prison: They Will Kill Me Like Priest Hayk
“Hakop Gochumyan” sent a letter from Evin Prison in which he wrote about threats to kill him like Priest Hayk Hovspyan.
Hakop Gochumyan, an Armenian citizen, was arrested along with his wife in late Mordad 1402 during a family gathering in Tehran by twelve Ministry of Intelligence agents and transferred to prison, where he remains. The charges against him include “deviant educational and propagandistic activities contrary to sacred Islamic law through membership and directing a proselytizing Christianity network in the country” and “possessing seven volumes of the Bible in Persian,” which he had prepared at the request of some Iranian Armenians.
He has been sentenced to ten years in prison for these charges. Hakop has repeatedly stated that the charges against him are fabricated, unjust, and incorrect, and that part of them were based on incorrect testimony from another Christian. According to him, the indictment contained baseless allegations such as “leading crusades to destroy the Islamic Republic” and “encouraging Baloch children to dream of having bread, water, toys, and education.”
The organization “Christian Solidarity Worldwide” released a letter written by Hakop Gochumyan on Friday, May 9th. He, who is serving his ten-year sentence, wrote the letter after his second request for retrial was rejected.
The Court of Appeal had previously rejected his appeal against the issued verdict, and the Supreme Court has twice refused to accept requests for reconsideration of his case, with his request being rejected in recent weeks. In this letter sent to the organization, Gochumyan wrote: “The interrogators, while proudly admitting to the murder of Bishop Hayk Hovspyan in 1994, subjected me to psychological violence and described the details of his murder without any shame, saying they would kill me in the same way.”
In his letter, he also explained that since his arrest, in addition to facing severe human rights violations during interrogation, he has been deprived of free access to a lawyer or interpreter, and has been threatened with harm to his family members’ lives. Beyond these, his permitted visits have been recorded and he has been denied access to representatives of the Armenian Embassy.
“Mervin Thomas,” head of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, responding to Hakop’s situation, said: “This organization is deeply concerned about Hakop Gochumyan’s detention on completely fabricated and baseless charges. This arrest has been accompanied by a clear violation of rights guaranteed in Iran’s constitution and international law. We are particularly deeply troubled and concerned by the severe psychological violence inflicted on him by Ministry of Intelligence agents (including threats to repeat the murder of Bishop Hovspyan). Additionally, the flagrant violation of his right to legal counsel and the repeated rejection of his retrial requests, despite the absence of fair legal proceedings, is disappointing. We demand the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. Gochumyan and urge the international community, particularly the government of Armenia, to hold Iranian authorities accountable not only for this injustice, but for systematic mistreatment of prisoners of conscience.”
