FORUM 18 NEWS SERVICE, Oslo, Norway
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
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Thursday 27 March 2008
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: JAILED RELIGIOUS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR MUST UNDERGO
"RE-EDUCATION"
Jehovah’s Witness Areg Hovhanesyan, who has served more than three years
of a four-year jail sentence for refusing compulsory military service on
religious grounds, must remain in jail and undergo "re-education", Forum 18
News Service has learnt. The internationally unrecognised entity of
Nagorno-Karabakh’s has rejected his appeal for early release, a Supreme
Court official told Forum 18. Albert Voskanyan of the Centre for Civilian
Initiatives – who attended the court hearing – told Forum 18 that the court
had ordered the prison leadership to "re-educate the prisoner". Ashot
Sargsyan, head of the Department for National Minorities and Religions,
defended the jail sentence. "He’s not dangerous, but how can he be a
well-behaved person if he breaks the law by refusing to do military
service?" A previous conscientious objector, who did military service
without bearing weapons, was a Baptist, Gagik Mirzoyan. He refused to swear
the military oath or bear arms, for which he was beaten up and imprisoned,
but was eventually released from military service in January.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: JAILED RELIGIOUS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR MUST UNDERGO
"RE-EDUCATION"
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;
Jehovah’s Witness Areg Hovhanesyan, who has already served more than three
years of a four-year sentence for refusing compulsory military service on
grounds of religious conscience, must remain in prison and undergo
"re-education", Forum 18 News Service has learnt. The Supreme Court of the
internationally unrecognised Nagorno-Karabakh Republic in the South
Caucasus rejected his appeal for early release on 24 March, a court
official told Forum 18 from the capital Stepanakert on 27 March. Yet the
official – who would not give his name – refused to say why the court
rejected Hovhanesyan’s appeal. "I don’t have the right to give you this
information."
However, Albert Voskanyan of the Stepanakert-based Centre for Civilian
Initiatives – who attended the court on 21 March when the case was heard –
told Forum 18 that the court had ordered the prison leadership to
"re-educate the prisoner".
"I believe the rejection of the appeal is not right, as Areg’s conduct in
prison has been excellent and he has not violated any regulations,"
Voskanyan told Forum 18. "The court should have taken this into account,
not his religious affiliation which makes it impossible for him to serve in
the army." He said he had long been pressing for conscientious objectors
like Hovhanesyan to be given the possibility of an alternative civilian
service.
But Ashot Sargsyan, the head of the government’s Department for National
Minorities and Religions, defended Hovhanesyan’s continued imprisonment.
"He’s not dangerous, but how can he be a well-behaved person if he breaks
the law by refusing to do military service?" he told Forum 18 from
Stepanakert on 27 March. "Let him go to Azerbaijan then and do alternative
service there."
Hovhanesyan was imprisoned in February 2005 for violating Article 327 Part
3 of the Nagorno-Karabakh Criminal Code, which punishes evasion of military
service "in conditions of martial law, in war conditions or during military
actions" with a sentence of between four and eight years. (Nagorno-Karabakh
has adopted the criminal code introduced in Armenia in 2003.) He has been
held in the prison in the hilltop town of Shusha near Stepanakert (see
F18News 9 November 2006
< =866>).
Lyova Markaryan of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Armenia – who retain close
ties to their fellow-believers in Nagorno-Karabakh – said that Hovhanesyan
had lodged his appeal for early release at the beginning of this year.
"Areg was hoping that he might be freed early after serving more than
two-thirds of his sentence," Markaryan told Forum 18 from the Armenian
capital Yerevan on 27 March. "But it is clear neither the authorities in
Stepanakert nor in Yerevan are prepared to give him early release."
Both Markaryan of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and Voskanyan of the Centre for
Civilian Initiatives maintain that Hovhanesyan’s conduct in the prison has
been exemplary. "Prison director Artur Abramyan praises Areg for his
behaviour and has given him a position of responsibility in the canteen,"
Markaryan told Forum 18. Voskanyan frequently visited Hovhanesyan and other
inmates in Shusha prison until his group were banned from monitoring prison
conditions.
Despite repeated calls on 27 March, Forum 18 was unable to reach Shusha
prison director Abramyan.
Nagorno-Karabakh’s Constitution – adopted by referendum in December 2006 –
required all citizens to take part in defence and made no provision for an
alternative non-military service (see F18News 9 November 2006
< e_id=866>).
Sargsyan of the Department for National Minorities and Religions defended
the lack of an alternative to compulsory military service. He cited the
long-running unresolved conflict with Azerbaijan, which insists that
Nagorno-Karabakh is an integral part of its territory. "The international
community is to blame that we don’t have such a law on alternative
service," he insisted. "If one was adopted, what would we do if 10,000
young men refused to serve in our armed forces? That’s why we’re not in a
hurry to adopt this law."
Sargsyan stressed that he was speaking to Forum 18 in an individual
capacity, not in the name of the government. "I’ve been in this job for
four months, but my post has not been confirmed," he explained. "Only when
the 1997 Religion Law is amended to include the role of this office can my
responsibilities be confirmed."
Despite repeated calls on 27 March, Forum 18 was unable to reach Ashot
Gulyan, speaker of Nagorno-Karabakh’s parliament. He had told Forum 18 in
2006 that a Law on Alternative Service would not be adopted until the
conflict over the territory had been resolved (see F18News 9 November 2006
< e_id=866>).
A previous victim of Nagorno-Karabakh’s policy of insisting that all
conscripts must swear an oath of allegiance before they begin their
military service was Gagik Mirzoyan, a member of a local Council of
Churches Baptist congregation. He also refused to bear arms. After being
forcibly taken to a military unit in December 2004 and beaten, he was then
imprisoned for refusing military service. He was freed in September 2006
and transferred to a military unit, where he was able to serve without
swearing the oath and without bearing arms (see F18News 9 November 2006
< e_id=866>).
Mirzoyan’s military service should have ended on 29 December 2007, but he
was released only on 4 January. "Gagik was summoned again on 3 January and
told that if he refused to swear the oath they would not let him home,"
local Baptists told Forum 18 back in January. "He told them he had not
changed his view and would continue to refuse to swear the oath, whatever
consequences that would bring. Seeing his firmness on this issue they
handed him his military card and allowed him to go home." On his military
record card, which Mirzoyan has, the section headed "Oath" was crossed out.
Unlike in earlier years, neither the Jehovah’s Witnesses nor the Council
of Churches Baptists – who refuse to apply for state registration in any
former Soviet state – report any current harassment of their religious
activity.
Sargsyan of the Department for National Minorities and Religions told
Forum 18 that until the Religion Law is changed, no religious communities
apart from the dominant Armenian Apostolic Church will be able to get legal
status.
"We have emergency military rule at the moment because of the unresolved
conflict so all religious communities should be registered," he insisted.
"But the current law does not have provision for that. The Armenian
Apostolic Church’s status is recognised in our Constitution, but no other
religious communities have legal status. This must be changed." He told
Forum 18 the status of his department needed to be enshrined in the law and
a mechanism for registering religious organisations enacted. (END)
Further coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in
Nagorno-Karabakh is at
< mp;religion=all&country=22>
A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba& gt;
within the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.
(END)
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