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FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
========================================== ======
Wednesday 2 May 2007
ARMENIA: 72 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
Armenia has a record number of religious conscientious objectors to
military service in jail, despite a 2004 promise to free these prisoners of
conscience, Forum 18 News Service has found. 72 Jehovah's Witnesses are now
in jail. Four of these prisoners have been jailed within the past month,
with an average jail sentence for each of the four young men of just under
two and a half years. Armenia claims to have a civilian alternative
service, but the allegedly "civilian" service is under the complete control
of the Armenian General Staff, supervised by the Military Police under
military law, and pacifists are forced to wear military uniform. Jehovah's
Witnesses and Molokans insist that they would be happy to perform a
genuinely civilian alternative service - but Armenia does not allow this.
The father of a Molokan Protestant Christian conscientious objector told
Forum 18 that "we're not satisfied with the current alternative service.
It's against our faith to take weapons and to kill people."
ARMENIA: 72 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
Armenia's Jehovah's Witnesses have complained to Forum 18 News Service
that 72 of their young men are now imprisoned for refusing both military
service and the alternative service under military control, the highest
number ever. This number could rise still further as the spring 2007
call-up gets underway. "Sentences are getting harsher and are now typically
up to three years' imprisonment," Jehovah's Witness lawyer Lyova Markaryan
told Forum 18 from the capital Yerevan on 1 May. "The government is saying
nothing about this issue." He says the government should fulfil its
obligations to the Council of Europe by freeing all the imprisoned
conscientious objectors, halt further prosecutions and introduce a purely
civilian alternative to military service.
On accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001, Armenia pledged to
adopt a law on alternative service within three years and in the meantime
to free all conscientious objectors from prison. The alternative service
law was eventually adopted in 2004 but the alternative service it created
remained under military control, which contradicts Council of Europe
principles.
On 23 January 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
again passed a resolution expressing disappointment over the failure to
introduce a civilian alternative service. It said it was "deeply concerned"
over the continued imprisonment of "dozens" of Jehovah's Witnesses. "The
Assembly urges the Armenian authorities to revise the law on alternative
service in accordance with the recommendations made by the Council of
Europe experts currently studying this issue and, in the meantime, to
pardon the young conscientious objectors currently serving prison
sentences," the resolution declared.
The Armenian Parliament's then deputy speaker, Tigran Torosyan, told the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on 22 June 2004 that all
conscientious objector prisoners would be freed. Instead, Armenia has
continued to jail these religious prisoners of conscience, which has drawn
repeated Council of Europe protests (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>).
Defence Ministry officials seek to hide military involvement in the
"civilian" alternative service. "It is not under the jurisdiction of the
Ministry of Defence," Lt Suren Aloyan of the ministry's press office
insisted to Forum 18 on 2 May. "It is under Ministry of Health and Ministry
of Social Security jurisdiction."
Currently, the Military Commissariat sends those accepted for alternative
service to the Health and Social Security ministries for work to be
assigned to such conscientious objectors. However, this allegedly
"civilian" alternative service is supervised by the Military Police under
regulations laid down by the Defence Ministry. Conscientious objectors are
ordered to wear military uniform and fed military rations. All breaches of
orders or regulations are dealt with by the Military Prosecutor's Office.
Order No. 142, issued by the then Deputy Defence Minister Mikael
Harutyunyan on 20 December 2004, ordered the Military Commissariat and the
Military Police to ensure that there is weekly military supervision of
everyone performing "civilian" alternative service. Monthly written reports
were ordered to be submitted to the Chief of the General Staff, and the
military was ordered to search for anyone who attempts to evade the
"civilian" alternative service. The Head of the Mobilisation Administration
of the General Staff was given the responsibility of ensuring that Order
No. 142 is obeyed (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>).
"Alternative service is totally under the control of the Defence
Ministry," Vahan Ishkhanian, a journalist with the Yerevan-based news
agency ArmeniaNow who has often covered conscientious objector cases, told
Forum 18 on 1 May. "It is not civilian, which is why Jehovah's Witnesses
refuse to do alternative service." He says no-one is currently doing the
alternative service.
However, despite failing to introduce an alternative service outside the
control of the Defence Ministry, Armenian officials insist the country has
met its obligations to the Council of Europe. "Unlike our neighbours, we
offer an alternative service," Tigran Samvelyan, the head of the Council of
Europe department at the Armenian Foreign Ministry, told Forum 18 from
Yerevan on 2 May. "Our law on alternative service is very much in
conformity with Council of Europe commitments." He refused to discuss why
alternative service is under military control and said he did not know how
many people are imprisoned for being unable on grounds of conscience to
perform military service or military-controlled alternative service. He
then put the phone down.
Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, Armen Harutyunyan, expressed concern
about the current alternative service being offered. "This is more than
just a problem of the Jehovah's Witnesses - it is a general problem," he
told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 2 May. He said all the complaints so far to
his office have been about the punitive length of the alternative service
and the conditions for those conducting the service, rather than over the
fact that it is subject to military control. "But of course it is a problem
if 72 people are imprisoned because of this - this problem must be
overcome," he added.
Harutyunyan pointed to Recommendation 1518 (2001) of the Council of
Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, which calls for "genuine alternative
service of a clearly civilian nature which should be neither deterrent nor
punitive in character". He said Armenia's current law does not provide
this. "I agree that the alternative service should be civilian and should
not be under the control of the military, of the Ministry of Defence," he
told Forum 18.
Jehovah's Witness lawyer Markaryan reported that among sentences in April
2007 were: a three year prison term imposed in the town of Martuni on Kajik
Harutyunyan; a 27-month term imposed on Hakop Babayan; a 30-month term on
his brother Vahan Babayan; and a 24-month term on Genuni Barsegyan. Almost
all Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are prosecuted under Article
327 part 1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes evasion of the call-up to
military or alternative service. The maximum sentence under this article
was increased to three years' imprisonment in December 2005.
Three Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned earlier as conscientious objectors
have lodged cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in
Strasbourg. In the first of the cases, on 12 December 2006 the Strasbourg
court declared partially admissible the case of Vahan Bayatyan (Case No.
23459/03), lodged in 2003. The court ruled that Armenia's prosecution of
him violated his right to freedom of religion, though the court rejected
some of Bayatyan's other complaints.
Bayatyan was called up in the spring draft in 2001 but refused to perform
military service on grounds of religious conscience. He offered instead to
perform genuinely civilian alternative service, but was arrested in
September 2002 and later tried and imprisoned. He was freed on parole in
July 2003.
Protestant Christians have also objected to the "civilian" alternative
service. Nikolai Karavanov told Forum 18 on 2 May that his son Pavel was
freed from prison in summer 2006 under amnesty. He had been sentenced in
autumn 2005 after abandoning alternative service when he realised it was
under military control (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>). Pavel Karavanov was
the first member of the Molokans to be jailed for conscientious objection
to military service since the Soviet period. Molokans are an Russian
Protestant church, established in the 17th century and known for their
pacifism. There are about 4,000 Molokans in Armenia.
There are no known current Molokan conscientious objectors in prison,
Nikolai Karavanov added. However, one Molokan young man due to be called up
shortly has already told the authorities that he is not prepared to do
either military service or alternative service because of his pacifist
religious beliefs. "Let's see what happens to him," Karavanov said.
Karavanov explained that Molokan young men would be happy with a genuine
civilian alternative service. "Of course we're not satisfied with the
current alternative service," he told Forum 18. "It's against our faith to
take weapons and to kill people." He said that, in the mid-1990s, Molokan
representatives had met government officials to insist that their young men
be free from compulsory military service. Officials at that time promised
that Molokans would not be imprisoned for refusing to join the army.
However, in 2005 Pavel Karavanov was imprisoned.
Since the Alternative Service Law came into force in 2004, officials do
not wish to change it again to allow a genuine civilian alternative
service, Ishkhanian of ArmeniaNow told Forum 18. "Armenian officials could
understand what is required to provide this, but they don't want to
understand." Official sources in Armenia have indicated to Forum 18 that
moves to introduce a new Alternative Service Law and amend the Criminal
Code appear to have come to a halt (see F18News 23 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=733>).
Markaryan of the Jehovah's Witnesses is equally pessimistic. "I don't see
any desire on the part of the government to resolve this problem at the
moment."
Ishkhanian of ArmeniaNow does not think that there is international
pressure to change the law. "I believe the Council of Europe is not
pressuring Armenia on this, that's why there's been no change to the Law to
allow civilian alternative service," he told Forum 18. "If the Council of
Europe declared bluntly that Armenia has not fulfilled its obligations in
this area I believe it would influence the government."
However, Council of Europe and Organisation for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE) officials have repeatedly assured Forum 18 that this is
not the case (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>). Officials have urged
Armenia to stop prosecuting conscientious objectors, stop jailing religious
prisoners of conscience, and to introduce a genuinely civilian alternative
service. However, Armenia has ignored these requests to respect fundamental
human rights. (END)
Further coverage of Armenian-related religious freedom issues is at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&a mp;religion=all&country=21&results=50>
A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpedition s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=armeni& gt;
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/
http://www.forum18.org/
The right to believe, to worship and witness
The right to change one's belief or religion
The right to join together and express one's belief
========================================== ======
Wednesday 2 May 2007
ARMENIA: 72 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
Armenia has a record number of religious conscientious objectors to
military service in jail, despite a 2004 promise to free these prisoners of
conscience, Forum 18 News Service has found. 72 Jehovah's Witnesses are now
in jail. Four of these prisoners have been jailed within the past month,
with an average jail sentence for each of the four young men of just under
two and a half years. Armenia claims to have a civilian alternative
service, but the allegedly "civilian" service is under the complete control
of the Armenian General Staff, supervised by the Military Police under
military law, and pacifists are forced to wear military uniform. Jehovah's
Witnesses and Molokans insist that they would be happy to perform a
genuinely civilian alternative service - but Armenia does not allow this.
The father of a Molokan Protestant Christian conscientious objector told
Forum 18 that "we're not satisfied with the current alternative service.
It's against our faith to take weapons and to kill people."
ARMENIA: 72 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
Armenia's Jehovah's Witnesses have complained to Forum 18 News Service
that 72 of their young men are now imprisoned for refusing both military
service and the alternative service under military control, the highest
number ever. This number could rise still further as the spring 2007
call-up gets underway. "Sentences are getting harsher and are now typically
up to three years' imprisonment," Jehovah's Witness lawyer Lyova Markaryan
told Forum 18 from the capital Yerevan on 1 May. "The government is saying
nothing about this issue." He says the government should fulfil its
obligations to the Council of Europe by freeing all the imprisoned
conscientious objectors, halt further prosecutions and introduce a purely
civilian alternative to military service.
On accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001, Armenia pledged to
adopt a law on alternative service within three years and in the meantime
to free all conscientious objectors from prison. The alternative service
law was eventually adopted in 2004 but the alternative service it created
remained under military control, which contradicts Council of Europe
principles.
On 23 January 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
again passed a resolution expressing disappointment over the failure to
introduce a civilian alternative service. It said it was "deeply concerned"
over the continued imprisonment of "dozens" of Jehovah's Witnesses. "The
Assembly urges the Armenian authorities to revise the law on alternative
service in accordance with the recommendations made by the Council of
Europe experts currently studying this issue and, in the meantime, to
pardon the young conscientious objectors currently serving prison
sentences," the resolution declared.
The Armenian Parliament's then deputy speaker, Tigran Torosyan, told the
Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on 22 June 2004 that all
conscientious objector prisoners would be freed. Instead, Armenia has
continued to jail these religious prisoners of conscience, which has drawn
repeated Council of Europe protests (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>).
Defence Ministry officials seek to hide military involvement in the
"civilian" alternative service. "It is not under the jurisdiction of the
Ministry of Defence," Lt Suren Aloyan of the ministry's press office
insisted to Forum 18 on 2 May. "It is under Ministry of Health and Ministry
of Social Security jurisdiction."
Currently, the Military Commissariat sends those accepted for alternative
service to the Health and Social Security ministries for work to be
assigned to such conscientious objectors. However, this allegedly
"civilian" alternative service is supervised by the Military Police under
regulations laid down by the Defence Ministry. Conscientious objectors are
ordered to wear military uniform and fed military rations. All breaches of
orders or regulations are dealt with by the Military Prosecutor's Office.
Order No. 142, issued by the then Deputy Defence Minister Mikael
Harutyunyan on 20 December 2004, ordered the Military Commissariat and the
Military Police to ensure that there is weekly military supervision of
everyone performing "civilian" alternative service. Monthly written reports
were ordered to be submitted to the Chief of the General Staff, and the
military was ordered to search for anyone who attempts to evade the
"civilian" alternative service. The Head of the Mobilisation Administration
of the General Staff was given the responsibility of ensuring that Order
No. 142 is obeyed (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>).
"Alternative service is totally under the control of the Defence
Ministry," Vahan Ishkhanian, a journalist with the Yerevan-based news
agency ArmeniaNow who has often covered conscientious objector cases, told
Forum 18 on 1 May. "It is not civilian, which is why Jehovah's Witnesses
refuse to do alternative service." He says no-one is currently doing the
alternative service.
However, despite failing to introduce an alternative service outside the
control of the Defence Ministry, Armenian officials insist the country has
met its obligations to the Council of Europe. "Unlike our neighbours, we
offer an alternative service," Tigran Samvelyan, the head of the Council of
Europe department at the Armenian Foreign Ministry, told Forum 18 from
Yerevan on 2 May. "Our law on alternative service is very much in
conformity with Council of Europe commitments." He refused to discuss why
alternative service is under military control and said he did not know how
many people are imprisoned for being unable on grounds of conscience to
perform military service or military-controlled alternative service. He
then put the phone down.
Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, Armen Harutyunyan, expressed concern
about the current alternative service being offered. "This is more than
just a problem of the Jehovah's Witnesses - it is a general problem," he
told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 2 May. He said all the complaints so far to
his office have been about the punitive length of the alternative service
and the conditions for those conducting the service, rather than over the
fact that it is subject to military control. "But of course it is a problem
if 72 people are imprisoned because of this - this problem must be
overcome," he added.
Harutyunyan pointed to Recommendation 1518 (2001) of the Council of
Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, which calls for "genuine alternative
service of a clearly civilian nature which should be neither deterrent nor
punitive in character". He said Armenia's current law does not provide
this. "I agree that the alternative service should be civilian and should
not be under the control of the military, of the Ministry of Defence," he
told Forum 18.
Jehovah's Witness lawyer Markaryan reported that among sentences in April
2007 were: a three year prison term imposed in the town of Martuni on Kajik
Harutyunyan; a 27-month term imposed on Hakop Babayan; a 30-month term on
his brother Vahan Babayan; and a 24-month term on Genuni Barsegyan. Almost
all Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors are prosecuted under Article
327 part 1 of the Criminal Code, which punishes evasion of the call-up to
military or alternative service. The maximum sentence under this article
was increased to three years' imprisonment in December 2005.
Three Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned earlier as conscientious objectors
have lodged cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in
Strasbourg. In the first of the cases, on 12 December 2006 the Strasbourg
court declared partially admissible the case of Vahan Bayatyan (Case No.
23459/03), lodged in 2003. The court ruled that Armenia's prosecution of
him violated his right to freedom of religion, though the court rejected
some of Bayatyan's other complaints.
Bayatyan was called up in the spring draft in 2001 but refused to perform
military service on grounds of religious conscience. He offered instead to
perform genuinely civilian alternative service, but was arrested in
September 2002 and later tried and imprisoned. He was freed on parole in
July 2003.
Protestant Christians have also objected to the "civilian" alternative
service. Nikolai Karavanov told Forum 18 on 2 May that his son Pavel was
freed from prison in summer 2006 under amnesty. He had been sentenced in
autumn 2005 after abandoning alternative service when he realised it was
under military control (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>). Pavel Karavanov was
the first member of the Molokans to be jailed for conscientious objection
to military service since the Soviet period. Molokans are an Russian
Protestant church, established in the 17th century and known for their
pacifism. There are about 4,000 Molokans in Armenia.
There are no known current Molokan conscientious objectors in prison,
Nikolai Karavanov added. However, one Molokan young man due to be called up
shortly has already told the authorities that he is not prepared to do
either military service or alternative service because of his pacifist
religious beliefs. "Let's see what happens to him," Karavanov said.
Karavanov explained that Molokan young men would be happy with a genuine
civilian alternative service. "Of course we're not satisfied with the
current alternative service," he told Forum 18. "It's against our faith to
take weapons and to kill people." He said that, in the mid-1990s, Molokan
representatives had met government officials to insist that their young men
be free from compulsory military service. Officials at that time promised
that Molokans would not be imprisoned for refusing to join the army.
However, in 2005 Pavel Karavanov was imprisoned.
Since the Alternative Service Law came into force in 2004, officials do
not wish to change it again to allow a genuine civilian alternative
service, Ishkhanian of ArmeniaNow told Forum 18. "Armenian officials could
understand what is required to provide this, but they don't want to
understand." Official sources in Armenia have indicated to Forum 18 that
moves to introduce a new Alternative Service Law and amend the Criminal
Code appear to have come to a halt (see F18News 23 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=733>).
Markaryan of the Jehovah's Witnesses is equally pessimistic. "I don't see
any desire on the part of the government to resolve this problem at the
moment."
Ishkhanian of ArmeniaNow does not think that there is international
pressure to change the law. "I believe the Council of Europe is not
pressuring Armenia on this, that's why there's been no change to the Law to
allow civilian alternative service," he told Forum 18. "If the Council of
Europe declared bluntly that Armenia has not fulfilled its obligations in
this area I believe it would influence the government."
However, Council of Europe and Organisation for Security and Co-operation
in Europe (OSCE) officials have repeatedly assured Forum 18 that this is
not the case (see F18News 22 February 2006
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=732>). Officials have urged
Armenia to stop prosecuting conscientious objectors, stop jailing religious
prisoners of conscience, and to introduce a genuinely civilian alternative
service. However, Armenia has ignored these requests to respect fundamental
human rights. (END)
Further coverage of Armenian-related religious freedom issues is at
<http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?query=&a mp;religion=all&country=21&results=50>
A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpedition s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=armeni& gt;
(END)
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855
You may reproduce or quote this article provided that credit is given to
F18News http://www.forum18.org/
Past and current Forum 18 information can be found at
http://www.forum18.org/