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
===============================================
Thursday 28 November 2013
ARMENIA: JAILED CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS FREED – BUT ALTERNATIVE SERVICE
APPLICATIONS MISSING?
Armenia’s Jehovah’s Witness community has welcomed the freeing from prison
of all conscientious objectors jailed for refusing military service, and
the approval of 72 applications for the new civilian alternative service.
However, Jehovah’s Witnesses expressed concern over 41 further applications
to the government’s Alternative Service Committee – many lodged in July –
which officials claimed to Forum 18 News Service have not been received. 12
of those waiting for a Committee decision have criminal cases against them,
and have been deprived of passports. This means, among other things, that
they cannot travel abroad, legally work, or marry. Committee Chair
Sogomonyan insisted to Forum 18 that the applications – secretary of the
Alternative Service Committee – insisted to Forum 18 that no applications
had been lost. The Territorial Administration Ministry spokesperson claimed
she could not answer Forum 18’s question as it had not been formulated in
accordance with the law.
ARMENIA: JAILED CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS FREED – BUT ALTERNATIVE SERVICE
APPLICATIONS MISSING?
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service
Armenia’s Jehovah’s Witness community has welcomed the freeing from prison
of all their young men imprisoned for refusing military service and the
approval of 72 applications for the new civilian alternative service. “Now,
for the first time since 1993, no Jehovah’s Witnesses are imprisoned in
Armenia for their conscientious objection to military service,” they told
Forum 18 News Service.
However, Jehovah’s Witnesses expressed concern over 41 further applications
to the government’s Alternative Service Committee – many lodged in July –
which officials claimed to Forum 18 have not been received. Also, 12 of
those waiting for a decision have criminal cases against them, and have
been deprived of passports. This means, among other things, that they
cannot travel abroad, legally work, or marry (see below).
The release of all known conscientious objectors from prison, and the
introduction of what appears to be a fully civilian alternative service,
implements a January 2001 commitment Armenia made on joining the Council of
Europe to do both these things by January 2004. Repeated failure to do both
has been strongly criticised internationally (see F18News 17 October 2013
).
Jehovah’s Witnesses calculate that more than 450 of their young men were
imprisoned for conscientious objection between 1993 and 2013. Another known
conscientious objector former prisoner was a member of Armenia’s small
Molokan community, a Russian Protestant-style community.
However, a Council of Europe commitment Armenia made at the same time – “to
ensure that all churches or religious communities, in particular those
referred to as ‘non-traditional’, may practise their religion without
discrimination” – has not yet been fully implemented (see forthcoming
F18News article).
Amendments
The conscientious objection change came in amendments to the 2003
Alternative Service Law and to the 2003 Law on Implementing the Criminal
Code. They were approved in parliament on 2 May 2013 and signed into law by
President Serzh Sarkisyan on 21 May (see F18News 6 June 2013
).
President Sarkisyan was reminded of the continuing imprisonment of 29
conscientious objectors when he addressed the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe in Strasbourg on 2 October. In response, Sarkisyan
claimed that Armenia has conducted “an immense amount of work” to ensure
freedom of conscience, according to remarks published on the Parliamentary
Assembly and presidential websites. He pointed to the alternative service
legal amendments and the abolition of criminal prosecution for
conscientious objectors. “There is a political will, legislative reform has
been implemented and the process is under way,” he claimed.
Releases
The releases of imprisoned conscientious objectors only began after
President Sarkisyan’s Strasbourg speech.
Eight imprisoned conscientious objectors – all Jehovah’s Witnesses – were
freed on 9 October after they were included in a prisoner amnesty which saw
their prison terms reduced by six months. Several of the eight were freed
just days before the end of their sentence (see F18News 17 October 2013
).
Six more were released on 24 October, the day after their applications were
accepted. They were the first to benefit from the June 2013 amendments. The
remaining 14 were freed on 12 November, the same day the Alternative
Service Commission accepted their applications (see below).
Alternative Service Committee applications
The government has set up an Alternative Service Committee to decide on
applications for alternative service (see F18News 6 June 2013
). It has met twice to
review applications. At its first session on 23 October, 72 applications
were approved. Six of them were from Jehovah’s Witness prisoners, who were
freed the following day.
Only one application – not from a Jehovah’s Witness – was rejected,
Committee secretary Artur Sogomonyan told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 27
November. He said the individual had lodged his application late and
therefore it could not be considered. He declined to identify the young
man. Human rights defenders were unable to identify the individual either.
At the Alternative Service Committee’s second session on 12 November – held
in Erebuni Prison because all the 14 applicants were then prisoners there –
all applications were accepted. The releases of the prisoners occurred the
same day, Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18.
The Committee interviewed each applicant separately for between five and 40
minutes, their lawyer Yelena Margaryan told Forum 18 from the capital
Yerevan on 27 November. For all the Jehovah’s Witness applicants, she was
present during interviews. During the 23 October interviews she was also
accompanied by another lawyer.
“Questions to the young men were reasonable,” Margaryan told Forum 18. “The
Committee wanted to understand their stance.” Decisions on each application
were made the same day as the hearing.
Will civilian service be civilian?
All the young men accepted for alternative civilian service are waiting at
home for information on where they will be assigned to perform their
service. Those who have served a prison sentence will have the length they
have served deducted from the length of alternative civilian service.
Under a 25 July government decision, 11 institutions were identified as
places where alternative civilian service would be carried out including
nursing homes, children’s homes and psychiatric clinics. The 11
institutions are controlled by a number of ministries: the Labour and
Social Affairs Ministry, the Health Ministry and the Emergency Situations
Ministry. A separate list identified tasks the alternative service workers
would carry out, including hospital orderly, laundry worker, kitchen
worker, ground staff or emergency rescuer’s assistant (see F18News 17
October 2013 ).
Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 that they are hopeful that the
alternative civilian service will remain civilian.
Since the Alternative Service Law entered into force in 2004, those called
up could instead apply for alternative service under military control,
which lasted up to 42 months. This did not meet the country’s Council of
Europe commitments (see F18News 3 December 2012
). When the Alternative
Service Law was first adopted in 2004, 22 Jehovah’s Witnesses and a Molokan
accepted the new alternative service. But they abandoned it in early 2005
after it became clear it was under military control. All 23 were
subsequently imprisoned (see F18News 22 February 2006
).
The new 2013 alternative civilian service has been set at three years,
compared to military service of two years. Although Jehovah’s Witnesses
note that the longer service could be considered “punitive”, they told
Forum 18 that they consider this a lesser issue than having a genuinely
civilian service available for their young men. Armenian human rights
defenders have criticised the length of the alternative service (see
F18News 6 June 2013 ).
Missing applications?
In addition to those whose applications for alternative civilian service
have been accepted, applications from 41 Jehovah’s Witness conscientious
objectors have yet to be considered by the Alternative Service Committee.
Many were lodged on 23 July, the same day that others which have already
been considered were lodged. Others were lodged after that as the young men
involved were still aged 17 and were trying to clarify from Conscription
Offices whether such applications should be lodged before they reach their
18th birthday.
Twelve of those waiting for a decision have criminal cases against them,
and five of the 12 have criminal trials currently underway against them.
“In the case of those on trial, courts repeatedly have to adjourn hearings
as they wait for an Alternative Service Committee date”, their lawyer
Margaryan told Forum 18.
They have no passport and live under restrictions while they wait for the
Alternative Service Committee decisions. The restrictions imposed by having
no passport include not being able to legally work or marry.
However, Sogomonyan – secretary of the Alternative Service Committee –
insisted to Forum 18 that no applications are currently pending. Asked
about the 41 waiting – many of which were lodged more than four months
earlier – he responded: “I haven’t got them. Any that have been submitted
end up with me.” Asked if they could have got lost, he replied:
“Applications don’t get lost.” He speculated that some might have been
submitted after the deadline, but had no information.
The applicants’ lawyer Margaryan insists that the 41 applications were
submitted properly. She stated that some may have been submitted late, as
individuals still aged 17 or who had medical conditions which might have
led to exemption from call-up were trying to find out from Conscription
Offices whether they needed to submit applications. She insisted that in
all these cases, individuals who submitted applications late asked for an
extension to the consideration period, which was not rejected.
Forum 18 tried to reach Vache Terteryan, First Deputy Minister of
Territorial Administration and Chair of the Alternative Service Committee.
However, his staff told Forum 18 on 27 November that he was not available,
referring Forum 18 to Ministry spokesperson Zoya Barsegyan.
At Barsegyan’s request, Forum 18 asked in writing the same day what has
happened to the missing applications and whether the young men now have to
send photocopies to the Committee for them to be considered. She responded
on 28 November refusing to answer the question, as she said it had not been
formulated in accordance with the law.
26 cases at European Court of Human Rights
A total of 26 Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objectors who were subjected
to imprisonment to punish them for refusing to perform military service or
the military-controlled alternative service then on offer have lodged cases
to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg, Jehovah’s
Witnesses told Forum 18. They said these cases are continuing.
In four previous cases, the ECtHR in Strasbourg has found the Armenian
government to have violated the rights of conscientious objectors. In a
landmark case, the court ruled in July 2011 in favour of former
conscientious objector prisoner Vahan Bayatyan. The ECtHR handed down two
similar judgments against Armenia – in cases brought by Hayk Bukharatyan
and Ashot Tsaturyan – in January 2012 (see F18News 1 February 2012
).
In November 2012, the ECtHR – in its fourth decision against Armenia in
conscientious objector cases – found that Armenia had violated the rights
of 17 Jehovah’s Witness conscientious objectors. For the first time in such
cases, Armenia’s European Court Judge, Alvina Gyulumyan, did not dissent
from the judgment.
The November 2012 judgment awarded compensation of 6,000 Euros to each of
the 17 conscientious objectors. The government was also required to pay a
total of 10,000 Euros in costs for all the applicants (see F18News 3
December 2012 ).
This judgment became final on 27 February 2013, with compensation payable
by 27 May. The government paid the 112,000 Euros compensation in mid-May.
The EcTHR’s most significant judgment was in July 2011, in the case of
former conscientious objector prisoner Vahan Bayatyan (Application No.
23459/03). It found that the right to conscientious objection is protected
by Article 9 (“Freedom of thought, conscience and religion”) of the
European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (see F18News 7
July 2011 ).
Conscientious objection deniers
Other Council of Europe countries which do not offer a full civilian
alternative to compulsory military service are Azerbaijan and Turkey.
Azerbaijan freed both of its known conscientious objector prisoners earlier
in 2013 (see F18News 28 June 2013
).
Turkish military court decisions concerning conscientious objection claims
have shown a selective and not complete recognition of the right to
conscientious objection, after Council of Europe pressure on the Turkish
government to implement ECtHR judgments (see F18News 1 May 2012
).
The unrecognised breakaway entity of Nagorno-Karabakh in the south Caucasus
also imprisons conscientious objectors. Jehovah’s Witness Karen Harutyunyan
was sentenced in December 2011 to 30 months’ imprisonment and remains in
prison in Shusha (see F18News 17 January 2012
).
Belarus – not a Council of Europe member – has in recent years imprisoned
conscientious objectors, though none are currently known to be in prison.
Any Alternative Service Law is, officials claim, now being prepared (see
F18News 10 January 2013
).
Turkmenistan – also not in the Council of Europe – currently has eight
known conscientious objector prisoners (see F18News 29 August 2013
). The latest prisoner
freed was Juma Nazarov on 29 August. (END)
More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Armenia and
the unrecognised entity of Nagorno-Karabakh is at
.
A personal commentary, by Derek Brett of Conscience and Peace Tax
International, on conscientious objection to military service and
international law in the light of the European Court of Human Rights’ July
2011 Bayatyan judgment is at
.
A compilation of Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE) freedom of religion or belief commitments can be found at
.
A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
.
All Forum 18 News Service material may be referred to, quoted from, or
republished in full, if Forum 18 is credited as the
source.
© Forum 18 News Service. All rights reserved. ISSN 1504-2855.
From: A. Papazian