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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 26 September 2007
ARMENIA: 82 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
With 82 Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned for refusing military service and
the military-controlled alternative service on grounds of religious
conscience, the Armenian authorities have reached a new record. Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service that 73 of them are serving terms of
18 to 36 months' imprisonment, while nine more are awaiting trial. Seven
are due for trial on 15 October, while the new call-up about to begin is
likely to bring more arrests. "Alternative service is under the control of
the Defence Ministry - I believe this should not be the case," Armen
Harutyunyan, Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, told Forum 18. But Artur
Agabekyan, chair of the parliamentary Defence Committee, rejects this. "The
alternative civilian service has no connection with the Defence Ministry,"
he claimed to Forum 18. Local journalist Vahan Ishkhanian says there is no
appetite for change within Armenia. "They say we already have a law that
meets European standards. I believe any change depends on the Council of
Europe."
ARMENIA: 82 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
When Aghan Vartanyan was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by the court
of Yerevan's Shengavit District on 29 August, he became the 73rd Jehovah's
Witness currently serving a prison sentence for refusing military service
on grounds of religious conscience. A further nine were arrested in August
and are in prison awaiting trial, Lyova Markaryan of the Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service from Yerevan on 24 September. This
brought the total imprisoned to a record 82. Seven of the nine are due to
be tried on 15 October. Another Jehovah's Witness is serving a two year
suspended sentence. Markaryan fears the number of prisoners will only rise
as the autumn call-up begins next month.
Armenia has violated its commitment to the Council of Europe to bring in a
fully civilian alternative to military service. It has also been criticised
by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (see
F18News 2 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id' 9>).
Markaryan complained that the most recent prisoner amnesty was not applied
to Jehovah's Witnesses. "Nor are Jehovah's Witnesses released from prison
after serving one third of their imprisonment," he told Forum 18. He said
he believes Jehovah's Witness young men would be ready to do a genuinely
civilian alternative service, though he insisted the decision is up to each
individual member.
"No-one here in Armenia wants to change the system," Vahan Ishkhanian, a
journalist from ArmeniaNow.com who has long followed the cases of
imprisoned conscientious objectors, told Forum 18 on 25 September. "They
say we already have a law that meets European standards. I believe any
change depends on the Council of Europe." He reports that no young men are
now doing the alternative service.
On 23 January 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
adopted Resolution 1532, which declared: "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."
Twenty-two Jehovah's Witnesses have lodged cases at the European Court of
Human Rights in Strasbourg over their prosecution for refusing to serve in
the armed forces or perform military-controlled alternative service. One of
those who has brought his case to Strasbourg, Haik Bukharatyan, was told by
a prosecutor: "People like you should be destroyed. Hitler was right when
he tried to exterminate you!"
Armen Harutyunyan, Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, told Forum 18
there has been "no progress" towards meeting the country's obligation to
introduce a genuinely civilian alternative service or to reduce the length
of time alternative service lasts. "Alternative service is under the
control of the Defence Ministry - I believe this should not be the case,"
he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 26 September. "Members of various
religious groups have complained about this."
Harutyunyan said that if there is no progress he will include the failure
to introduce a genuine civilian service into his next annual report to
parliament. "Parliament is already informed about this issue and it must
amend the law."
But Artur Agabekyan, a parliamentary deputy from the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation party who chairs the parliamentary Defence
Committee, rejects Harutyunyan's assessment. "There is alternative military
service and alternative civilian service," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on
26 September. "The alternative civilian service has no connection with the
Defence Ministry." He said the only connection is that conscripts are
initially called up through local military conscription offices.
The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Molokans reject such assertions, insisting
that those conducting the alternative "civilian" service are supervised by
the Military Police under regulations laid down by the Defence Ministry.
They are ordered to wear uniform provided by the military and fed by the
military. 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>).
Agabekyan of the parliamentary Defence Committee rejected this, insisting
that this decree must have been superseded. He promised to find out and
tell Forum 18. "Some mistakes were made by the Defence Ministry," he
conceded. "They don't have the right to control alternative civilian
service." He maintained that the Social Care and Health Ministries are in
charge of those doing alternative service.
Forum 18 has been unable to find out why the Defence Ministry controls a
service that is supposed to be civilian. Col. Sedrak Sedrakyan of the
Ministry's Legal Department was not in his office on 25 and 26 September
and questions submitted to Lt Suren Aloyan of the press office early on 25
September had not been answered by the end of the working day on 26
September.
No one in the administration of President Robert Kocharyan was available
to explain to Forum 18 on 26 September to explain what steps - if any - the
president intends to take to bring Armenia's position into line with its
Council of Europe commitments, which should have been enacted by January
2004. Also unavailable when Forum 18 called were Justice Minister Kevork
Danielyan and parliamentary speaker Tigran Torosyan.
Despite the current alternative service being under Ministry of Defence
control, Armenian officials have repeated to Forum 18 their insistence that
they are meeting their obligations. "Our law did introduce an alternative
service," Tigran Samvelyan, who heads the Council of Europe Department at
the Foreign Ministry, told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 25 September. "I can't
see any failure in fulfilling our commitments to the Council of Europe."
Told that the alternative service is under military control, thus
violating Council of Europe requirements and making the alternative service
unacceptable to those whose conscience does not allow them to support the
military, Samvelyan brushed these concerns aside. "The law was adopted by
parliament, not the Foreign Ministry," he maintained. Told that more than
80 Jehovah's Witnesses are currently in prison for refusing military and
alternative service he insisted this is not his ministry's responsibility.
All but one of the 73 sentenced Jehovah's Witnesses were 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. The
Jehovah's Witness prisoners are serving sentences of between 18 and 36
months' imprisonment.
Markaryan of the Jehovah's Witnesses complained to Forum 18 that in six
recent cases where sentences were at the lower end of the range,
prosecutors successfully appealed and had the sentences lengthened.
As well as the hundreds of Jehovah's Witness prisoners in recent years, a
young Molokan Pavel Karavanov was freed from prison in summer 2006 after
serving a sentence for refusing military and alternative service on grounds
of religious conscience. Molokans are a Russian Protestant church,
established in the 17th century and known for their pacifism. There are
about 4,000 Molokans in Armenia.
A member of Yerevan's Molokan community confirmed to Forum 18 on 25
September that no Molokan young men are currently imprisoned for refusing
military service. Other religious communities where pacifism has a long
tradition - such as the Seventh-day Adventists and the Pentecostal Churches
- confirmed to Forum 18 from Yerevan that their young men are prepared to
serve in the Armenian armed forces.
Ishkhanian, the journalist, reports some flexibility within the armed
forces to meet concerns on grounds of conscience. "Some young men serve
within the military but without handling weapons," he told Forum 18.
Mamikon Kazaryan, bishop of a Pentecostal denomination with links to the
Church led in Russia by Bishop Ivan Fedotov, said that about forty young
men in their congregations across Armenia are now doing military service.
"Some of them won't swear the military oath on grounds of conscience, but
are allowed instead to give their word," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on
25 September. "In recent years none of our young men have been punished in
relation to their service and they are treated well." (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 26 September 2007
ARMENIA: 82 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
With 82 Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned for refusing military service and
the military-controlled alternative service on grounds of religious
conscience, the Armenian authorities have reached a new record. Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service that 73 of them are serving terms of
18 to 36 months' imprisonment, while nine more are awaiting trial. Seven
are due for trial on 15 October, while the new call-up about to begin is
likely to bring more arrests. "Alternative service is under the control of
the Defence Ministry - I believe this should not be the case," Armen
Harutyunyan, Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, told Forum 18. But Artur
Agabekyan, chair of the parliamentary Defence Committee, rejects this. "The
alternative civilian service has no connection with the Defence Ministry,"
he claimed to Forum 18. Local journalist Vahan Ishkhanian says there is no
appetite for change within Armenia. "They say we already have a law that
meets European standards. I believe any change depends on the Council of
Europe."
ARMENIA: 82 RELIGIOUS PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE IS NEW RECORD
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>
When Aghan Vartanyan was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by the court
of Yerevan's Shengavit District on 29 August, he became the 73rd Jehovah's
Witness currently serving a prison sentence for refusing military service
on grounds of religious conscience. A further nine were arrested in August
and are in prison awaiting trial, Lyova Markaryan of the Jehovah's
Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service from Yerevan on 24 September. This
brought the total imprisoned to a record 82. Seven of the nine are due to
be tried on 15 October. Another Jehovah's Witness is serving a two year
suspended sentence. Markaryan fears the number of prisoners will only rise
as the autumn call-up begins next month.
Armenia has violated its commitment to the Council of Europe to bring in a
fully civilian alternative to military service. It has also been criticised
by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) (see
F18News 2 May 2007 <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id' 9>).
Markaryan complained that the most recent prisoner amnesty was not applied
to Jehovah's Witnesses. "Nor are Jehovah's Witnesses released from prison
after serving one third of their imprisonment," he told Forum 18. He said
he believes Jehovah's Witness young men would be ready to do a genuinely
civilian alternative service, though he insisted the decision is up to each
individual member.
"No-one here in Armenia wants to change the system," Vahan Ishkhanian, a
journalist from ArmeniaNow.com who has long followed the cases of
imprisoned conscientious objectors, told Forum 18 on 25 September. "They
say we already have a law that meets European standards. I believe any
change depends on the Council of Europe." He reports that no young men are
now doing the alternative service.
On 23 January 2007, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
adopted Resolution 1532, which declared: "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."
Twenty-two Jehovah's Witnesses have lodged cases at the European Court of
Human Rights in Strasbourg over their prosecution for refusing to serve in
the armed forces or perform military-controlled alternative service. One of
those who has brought his case to Strasbourg, Haik Bukharatyan, was told by
a prosecutor: "People like you should be destroyed. Hitler was right when
he tried to exterminate you!"
Armen Harutyunyan, Armenia's Human Rights Ombudsperson, told Forum 18
there has been "no progress" towards meeting the country's obligation to
introduce a genuinely civilian alternative service or to reduce the length
of time alternative service lasts. "Alternative service is under the
control of the Defence Ministry - I believe this should not be the case,"
he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 26 September. "Members of various
religious groups have complained about this."
Harutyunyan said that if there is no progress he will include the failure
to introduce a genuine civilian service into his next annual report to
parliament. "Parliament is already informed about this issue and it must
amend the law."
But Artur Agabekyan, a parliamentary deputy from the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation party who chairs the parliamentary Defence
Committee, rejects Harutyunyan's assessment. "There is alternative military
service and alternative civilian service," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on
26 September. "The alternative civilian service has no connection with the
Defence Ministry." He said the only connection is that conscripts are
initially called up through local military conscription offices.
The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Molokans reject such assertions, insisting
that those conducting the alternative "civilian" service are supervised by
the Military Police under regulations laid down by the Defence Ministry.
They are ordered to wear uniform provided by the military and fed by the
military. 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>).
Agabekyan of the parliamentary Defence Committee rejected this, insisting
that this decree must have been superseded. He promised to find out and
tell Forum 18. "Some mistakes were made by the Defence Ministry," he
conceded. "They don't have the right to control alternative civilian
service." He maintained that the Social Care and Health Ministries are in
charge of those doing alternative service.
Forum 18 has been unable to find out why the Defence Ministry controls a
service that is supposed to be civilian. Col. Sedrak Sedrakyan of the
Ministry's Legal Department was not in his office on 25 and 26 September
and questions submitted to Lt Suren Aloyan of the press office early on 25
September had not been answered by the end of the working day on 26
September.
No one in the administration of President Robert Kocharyan was available
to explain to Forum 18 on 26 September to explain what steps - if any - the
president intends to take to bring Armenia's position into line with its
Council of Europe commitments, which should have been enacted by January
2004. Also unavailable when Forum 18 called were Justice Minister Kevork
Danielyan and parliamentary speaker Tigran Torosyan.
Despite the current alternative service being under Ministry of Defence
control, Armenian officials have repeated to Forum 18 their insistence that
they are meeting their obligations. "Our law did introduce an alternative
service," Tigran Samvelyan, who heads the Council of Europe Department at
the Foreign Ministry, told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 25 September. "I can't
see any failure in fulfilling our commitments to the Council of Europe."
Told that the alternative service is under military control, thus
violating Council of Europe requirements and making the alternative service
unacceptable to those whose conscience does not allow them to support the
military, Samvelyan brushed these concerns aside. "The law was adopted by
parliament, not the Foreign Ministry," he maintained. Told that more than
80 Jehovah's Witnesses are currently in prison for refusing military and
alternative service he insisted this is not his ministry's responsibility.
All but one of the 73 sentenced Jehovah's Witnesses were 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. The
Jehovah's Witness prisoners are serving sentences of between 18 and 36
months' imprisonment.
Markaryan of the Jehovah's Witnesses complained to Forum 18 that in six
recent cases where sentences were at the lower end of the range,
prosecutors successfully appealed and had the sentences lengthened.
As well as the hundreds of Jehovah's Witness prisoners in recent years, a
young Molokan Pavel Karavanov was freed from prison in summer 2006 after
serving a sentence for refusing military and alternative service on grounds
of religious conscience. Molokans are a Russian Protestant church,
established in the 17th century and known for their pacifism. There are
about 4,000 Molokans in Armenia.
A member of Yerevan's Molokan community confirmed to Forum 18 on 25
September that no Molokan young men are currently imprisoned for refusing
military service. Other religious communities where pacifism has a long
tradition - such as the Seventh-day Adventists and the Pentecostal Churches
- confirmed to Forum 18 from Yerevan that their young men are prepared to
serve in the Armenian armed forces.
Ishkhanian, the journalist, reports some flexibility within the armed
forces to meet concerns on grounds of conscience. "Some young men serve
within the military but without handling weapons," he told Forum 18.
Mamikon Kazaryan, bishop of a Pentecostal denomination with links to the
Church led in Russia by Bishop Ivan Fedotov, said that about forty young
men in their congregations across Armenia are now doing military service.
"Some of them won't swear the military oath on grounds of conscience, but
are allowed instead to give their word," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on
25 September. "In recent years none of our young men have been punished in
relation to their service and they are treated well." (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/