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  • Armenia - Imprisonment of 80 conscientious objectors "not HR issue"

    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

    ========================================== ======
    Thursday 11 December 2008
    ARMENIA: IMPRISONMENT OF SOME 80 CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS "NOT A HUMAN
    RIGHTS ISSUE"

    Armenia's Foreign and Justice Ministries have denied to Forum 18 News
    Service that the country's alternative to military service is also under
    military control. Karine Soudjian, who heads the Human Rights Department in
    the Foreign Ministry, insisted to Forum 18 that the current Alternative
    Service Law has "no contradiction" with Armenia's international human
    rights obligations, including to the Council of Europe. But the Council of
    Europe's Human Rights Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg says the Law "does not
    provide for a genuine civilian service as the service is still managed and
    supervised by the Ministry of Defence". Soudjian says the imprisonment of
    some 80 Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors - a figure she disputes -
    "is not a human rights issue". Parliamentary deputy David Harutyunyan told
    Forum 18 the Law has "room for improvement" and is being discussed in two
    parliamentary committees, but declined to spell out what changes are being
    discussed. Jehovah's Witnesses fear that if the system does not change, at
    least a further 15 young men will face trial from January.

    ARMENIA: IMPRISONMENT OF SOME 80 CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS "NOT A HUMAN
    RIGHTS ISSUE"

    By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <http://www.forum18.org>

    Despite the call back in April by the Council of Europe's Human Rights
    Commissioner Thomas Hammarberg for Armenia to free all its imprisoned
    conscientious objectors, those who cannot serve in the army or perform the
    alternative service under military control currently being offered continue
    to be arrested and sentenced, Forum 18 News Service has found. Some 80
    conscientious objectors - all of them Jehovah's Witnesses - are now
    imprisoned. The current Alternative Service Law "does not provide for a
    genuine civilian service as the service is still managed and supervised by
    the Ministry of Defence," Hammarberg complained.

    Lyova Markaryan of the Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 from the capital
    Yerevan on 10 December that they have been able to meet officials to
    resolve some issues, but that "nothing is clear" about whether the
    Alternative Service Law will be amended to meet Armenia's international
    commitments. He fears that if there is no change, the number of prisoners
    could soon rise sharply. "Cases are underway against more than 15
    individual Jehovah's Witnesses and unless there is any change their trials
    could begin as early as January."

    Parliamentary deputy David Harutyunyan told Forum 18 that two
    parliamentary committees - the state and law committee (which he chairs)
    and the human rights committee - are "discussing ways to improve the law".
    "It's questionable whether the Law provides a civilian alternative service
    or not," he told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 9 December, "but there is still
    room for improvement." He blamed "misunderstandings" on both sides for the
    continuing imprisonment of conscientious objectors and said a solution will
    be found. He stressed that alternative service must be free of military
    control, but not free of state control.

    Harutyunyan refused to specify what changes to the Law or to procedures
    are being discussed or any timetable for any changes.

    However, Karine Soudjian, who heads the Human Rights Department in the
    Foreign Ministry, insisted to Forum 18 from Yerevan on 9 December that the
    current Alternative Service Law has "no contradiction" with Armenia's
    international human rights obligations, including to the Council of Europe.

    As of 1 November, 78 Jehovah's Witnesses were serving prison sentences of
    between one and three years for refusing military service on grounds of
    religious conscience, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18. All had been
    sentenced 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. One other Jehovah's Witness was serving a suspended two-year
    sentence.

    As of 1 November, a further two Jehovah's Witnesses were in pre-trial
    detention in Nubarashen near Yerevan: Tigran Melikyan, who was arrested on
    30 July, and Grisha Ohanjanyan, who was arrested on 13 October.

    Soudjian of the Foreign Ministry dismissed the information Forum 18 had
    received about the number of imprisoned Jehovah's Witness conscientious
    objectors. "This is not the real figure - you have bad information." Asked
    what she believes the current figure is, she said: "We haven't any figure."
    Asked why the Human Rights Department does not seek out this information,
    given that a Council of Europe commitment is to free these prisoners and
    introduce a fully civilian alternative service, she told Forum 18: "This is
    not a human rights issue."

    Unlike representatives of the Foreign Ministry, Armenia's Justice Ministry
    does admit that Jehovah's Witnesses who cannot serve in the military on
    grounds of religious conscience are in prison. However, Lana Mshetsyan,
    spokesperson of the Justice Ministry, insisted to Forum 18 back in October
    that the situation for the then 86 Jehovah's Witness prisoners was
    "different", saying that they were imprisoned for refusing the alternative
    service being offered. She denied absolutely that the alternative service
    is under military control and believes it is adequate for those who cannot
    serve in the military. "So they are not 'prisoners of conscience' at all,"
    she told Forum 18.

    The number of imprisoned conscientious objectors has barely changed over
    the past year. As of September 2007, a total of 82 Jehovah's Witnesses were
    in prison serving sentences or awaiting trial. As well as the hundreds of
    Jehovah's Witness prisoners in recent years, a young Molokan Pavel
    Karavanov was freed from prison in 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 (see F18News 26 September 2007
    <http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?articl e_id=1024>).

    Soudjian of the Foreign Ministry claimed to Forum 18 that the Alternative
    Service Law adopted in 2003 and amended in 2004 and 2006 meets the
    obligations Armenia took on itself when it joined the Council of Europe in
    2001. However, the failure to free imprisoned conscientious objectors and
    introduce a civilian alternative service by 2004 has drawn repeated
    criticism from officials of the Council of Europe, as well as of the
    Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

    The Council of Europe also criticised the length of the alternative
    service (42 months compared to 24 months' military service), a criticism
    repeated by Commissioner Hammarberg in April, who described it as "far too
    long".

    Markaryan of the Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 that he and his
    colleagues have met officials to try to help them understand the Jehovah's
    Witnesses' position. He said they met Deputy Defence Minister Ara Nazaryan
    in late November. "He told us at the end that he understood that we want an
    alternative civilian service," Markaryan reported. "At the moment officials
    are listening and we believe they understand what we want. But we don't
    know what reaction there will be."

    Markaryan and other Jehovah's Witnesses insist that the alternative
    service now on offer remains under military control. "This became clear
    back in 2004 when 22 of our young men tried it. There has been no change in
    procedures since then." The 22 abandoned the service when they saw it was
    under military control and were subsequently imprisoned.

    Markaryan pointed out that participants are given military record books
    where they are described as soldiers, are checked up on each week by the
    military and need permission from the military to go on leave. Article 14
    of the Alternative Service Law says that the military organises the
    alternative service call-up, while Article 13 says that individuals are
    assigned to their place of work by the military. Article 18 subjects those
    doing alternative service to the army's Code of Rules. Article 21 treats
    those who desert from the army and those who abandon alternative service in
    exactly the same way.

    However, Markaryan does note two areas of progress. He said that at a
    meeting in spring 2008 with Jehovah's Witnesses, Deputy Prosecutor General,
    Aram Tamazyan, said that those awaiting trial on charges of refusing
    military and alternative service would no longer be held in pre-trial
    detention. They would instead only be detained in the courtroom if found
    guilty. "This is only half-being implemented - it seems not all local
    prosecutors know about this," Markaryan told Forum 18. "But it is some
    improvement."

    Tamazyan confirmed that he had met the Jehovah's Witnesses to discuss the
    issue of pre-trial detention. But he insisted to Forum 18 on 10 December
    that those awaiting trial for refusing military and alternative service are
    treated the same regardless of which region of the country they live in. He
    declined to discuss the two current cases where Jehovah's Witnesses are
    being held in pre-trial detention, one of them for more than four months.

    Markaryan also noted that the previous practice of denying military cards
    to those who have served terms of imprisonment for refusing military and
    alternative service has now ended after Jehovah's Witnesses met the Defence
    Minister Seyran Ohanyan in summer 2008. Ohanyan then instructed all
    military commissariats to issue such cards, a process that began soon
    after. Markaryan said all their former prisoners now have such cards.

    "This was a real problem. Without the military card the young men could
    not register their place of residence," Markaryan told Forum 18, "and
    without a registered place of residence they couldn't get an identity card
    or passport. So they couldn't get a job in the government, couldn't leave
    the country and couldn't even get married!" (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/

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
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