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
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7 July 2011
ARMENIA: EUROPEAN COURT FINDS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WAS WRONGFULLY
CONVICTED AND JAILED – BUT WHAT WILL GOVERNMENT DO?
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1591
The European Court of Human Rights has today (7 July) published a Grand
Chamber judgment finding that Armenia violated Vahan Bayatyan’s right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion. Bayatyan, an Armenian
Jehovah’s Witness, was imprisoned from September 2002 to July 2003 for
refusal on grounds of conscience to perform compulsory military service.
Armenia currently has 69 prisoners of conscience – all Jehovah’s Witnesses
– in jail for refusing conscription. Armenian officials gave only cautious
responses to the verdict to Forum 18 News Service, but Jehovah’s Witnesses
noted to Forum 18 that it should both lead to the prisoners of conscience
being freed, and “help our fellow believers who are facing are facing the
same issue in Azerbaijan and Turkey”. Armenia claims amendments to the
Alternative Service Law now in Parliament will take the current alternative
service out of the control of the military. But the wording of the
amendments is unclear and does not unambiguously state this. Lieutenant
Colonel Sasun Simonyan, who was involved in preparing the amendments, told
Forum 18 that – as at present – anyone doing alternative service who
violated their terms of service would be dealt with by the Military
Prosecutor’s Office.
* See full article below. *
4 July 2011
BELARUS: “CLERGY ACCESS IS SOMETHING EXCEPTIONAL IN PRE-TRIAL DETENTION
CENTRES”
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1589
Three months after his arrest, the closed trial of Grodno-based journalist
Andrzej Poczobut on charges of slandering Belarus’ president is likely to
conclude tomorrow (5 July) with the verdict. He has been denied a visit
from a priest since his April arrest. “He is a true Roman Catholic and all
this time in detention he has asked for a priest more than once, but the
prison administration always found excuses not to grant it,” his wife
Aksana Poczobut complained to Forum 18. One of the two Catholic prison
chaplains, Fr Kazimir Zylis, told Forum 18 he has been waiting for
permission from the Prosecutor’s Office to visit Poczobut. Forum 18 also
knows of pre-trial detainees denied clergy visits in the KGB secret police
detention centre in the capital Minsk and in the city’s Detention Centre
No. 1, which is run by the Interior Ministry. “Clergy access is something
exceptional in pre-trial detention centres,” Oleg Gulak of the Belarusian
Helsinki Committee told Forum 18.
5 July 2011
KAZAKHSTAN: “ABSURD” CRIMINAL CHARGE FOR PRAYING FOR THE SICK
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1590
Pastor Yerzhan Ushanov of the New Life Protestant Church in Taraz could
face up to two years’ imprisonment if criminal charges of harming an
individual’s health, brought by the KNB secret police, reach court. The KNB
claim a visitor to the church suffered after Pastor Ushanov prayed for him
using hypnosis, the second time the secret police have brought such charges
against a Protestant pastor in Jambyl Region. “This is not the first time
the authorities in southern regions of Kazakhstan bring such absurd
accusations against pastors for allegedly using hypnosis, while in reality
all they do is pray for the sick,” New Life Church members complained to
Forum 18 News Service. The police Department for the Fight against
Extremism, Separatism and
Terrorism then raided the Church’s Sunday worship after an alleged
complaint of food poisoning and the KNB searched Pastor Ushanov’s home. The
KNB secret police, as well as the ordinary police Department for the Fight
against Extremism, Separatism and
Terrorism, both refused to comment on the case to Forum 18.
7 July 2011
ARMENIA: EUROPEAN COURT FINDS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR WAS WRONGFULLY
CONVICTED AND JAILED – BUT WHAT WILL GOVERNMENT DO?
http://www.forum18.org/Archive.php?article_id=1591
By Felix Corley, Editor, Forum 18 News Service
Exactly eight years after he brought his case to European Court of Human
Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg in 2003, the Court’s Grand Chamber this
morning (7 July) ruled that Vahan Bayatyan had his right to freedom of
thought, conscience and religion violated and awarded him compensation.
Bayatyan, an Armenian Jehovah’s Witness, was imprisoned from September 2002
to July 2003 for refusal on grounds of conscience to perform compulsory
military service. Of the 17 judges, only the judge from Armenia, Alvina
Gyulumyan, dissented from the decision. There are currently 69 imprisoned
conscientious objectors in Armenia – all Jehovah’s Witnesses – and the
ECtHR judgment directly affects their cases.
Armenian officials gave only cautious responses to the verdict. “If this is
the decision of the European Court, the government must pay the
compensation,” Karine Kalantaryan, spokesperson for the Justice Ministry,
told Forum 18 News Service from the Armenian capital Yerevan on 7 July.
“The government has always paid compensation handed down in such cases.”
However, asked about the implications of the judgment for the current
prisoners, she referred to Deputy Justice Minister Emil Babayan. His
Assistant told Forum 18 the same day that he was out at a conference.
A senior official of the central government apparatus – who asked not to be
identified – told Forum 18 that “in the execution of the judgment, the
government might review the situation of the imprisoned conscientious
objectors”, but gave no promises.
Jehovah’s Witnesses welcomed the judgment. “This landmark judgment by the
Grand Chamber should lead to the eventual release of the 69 Jehovah’s
Witnesses imprisoned in Armenia, and help our fellow believers who are
facing are facing the same issue in Azerbaijan and Turkey,” one told Forum
18 from Yerevan on 7 July.
The Armenian government claims amendments to the Alternative Service Law
now in Parliament will take the current alternative service out of the
control of the military. However, human rights defenders and Jehovah’s
Witnesses have told Forum 18 of their doubt at this claim, as the wording
of the amendments does not clearly establish this.
Rights violated
In today’s ECtHR Grand Chamber judgment, the Court found that Bayatyan’s
right, under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms, to freedom of thought, conscience and religion had
been violated. It stated that Bayatyan’s “failure to report for military
service was a manifestation of his religious beliefs. His conviction for
draft evasion therefore amounted to an interference with his freedom to
manifest his religion as guaranteed by Article 9” (see
This overturns the controversial 2009 judgment that Bayatyan’s right to
freedom of thought, conscience and religion had not been violated (see
Commentary by Derek Brett of Conscience and Peace Tax International at
after that judgment (see F18News 7 December 2010
The ECtHR today noted, among other points, Armenia’s formal commitments to
respect the right to conscientious objection when it joined the Council of
Europe (see below). Considering the case, the ECtHR found that the
conviction and imprisonment was “not necessary in a democratic society” and
so violated Article 9. Indeed, the Court argued that: “respect on the part
of the State towards the beliefs of a minority religious group like the
applicant’s by providing them with the opportunity to serve society as
dictated by their conscience might, far from creating unjust inequalities
or discrimination as claimed by the Government, rather ensure cohesive and
stable pluralism and promote religious harmony and tolerance in society.”
The Court’s judgment – which is final and cannot be challenged – orders the
Armenian government to pay compensation to Bayatyan within three months of
10,000 Euros (5,305,580 Armenian Drams, 77,500 Norwegian Kroner or 14,253
US Dollars), plus a further 10,000 Euros in costs.
As well as paying compensation and costs, states are required to abide by
judgments by also ensuring that the reasons for violations found by the
ECtHR are removed. This can include changing legislation.
Other Council of Europe member states which currently imprison
conscientious objectors are Azerbaijan (see F18News 22 February 2011
F18News 17 March 2010
judgment – in a comment that may have implications for the laws and
official actions of both states – noted that “the overwhelming majority” of
Council of Europe member states have “already recognised in their law and
practice the right to conscientious objection”.
Armenia’s Council of Europe commitment
On its accession to the Council of Europe in January 2001, Armenia formally
pledged to: “adopt, within three years of accession [i.e. by 25 January
2004], a law on alternative service in compliance with European standards
and, in the meantime, to pardon all conscientious objectors sentenced to
prison terms or service in disciplinary battalions, allowing them instead
to choose, when the law on alternative service has come into force to
perform non-armed military service or alternative civilian service”.
The current Alternative Service Law was adopted in 2003 (coming into force
on 1 July 2004), but despite amendments in 2004 and 2006, it still fails to
meet Armenia’s Council of Europe commitment to allow a choice of
“alternative civilian service” to be possible. Jehovah’s Witnesses and a
Molokan who initially accepted the Law’s “alternative service” quickly
abandoned it when it became clear that the “alternative” was controlled and
overseen by the military. They were soon imprisoned, and Armenian has
failed follow its Council of Europe commitment to pardon – and therefore
release – its prisoners of conscience who object to compulsory military
service (see F18News 7 December 2010
69 imprisoned conscientious objectors
As of the beginning of July, 69 young men – all Jehovah’s Witnesses – were
imprisoned for refusing both military service and the military-controlled
alternative service, Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18. All were 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.
Of the current 69 prisoners, four are serving maximum sentences of 36
months, 35 are serving 30-month sentences, one is serving a 27-month
sentence, 28 are serving 24-month sentences, one is serving an 18-month
sentence and one a 12-month sentence. Seven of the prisoners were sentenced
in 2011, with the most recent two trials in April. The 69 prisoners are
serving their sentences in prisons in Artik, Erebuni, Kosh and Nubarashen.
The number of conscientious objector prisoners has hovered around 70 for
several years, almost all of them Jehovah’s Witnesses. One Molokan (an
early Russian Protestant-style Christian community), Pavel Karavanov, was
also imprisoned as a conscientious objector, being freed in 2006 (see
F18News 2 May 2007
Thomas Hammarberg, the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights,
met three of the imprisoned Jehovah’s Witnesses in Artik prison in the
north-western region of Shirak during his January 2011 visit to Armenia. In
his report published on 9 May he called for the conscientious objectors to
be freed from prison, and for a genuine civilian alternative service to be
introduced (see report via
The prisoners are being treated well, Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18.
They have access to their religious literature and hold meetings, but are
only allowed a pastoral visit from a minister once a month on the second
Tuesday of each month. “We would like that to be weekly at the minimum.”
Applications for transfer to community service rejected
In Spring 2011, some of the Jehovah’s Witness prisoners were offered the
opportunity to apply to transfer to community service for the remaining
two-thirds of their sentence. However, none of those who did so were
accepted, Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18.
In a typical case, Taron Pirapyan, sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment in
March 2010 and serving his sentence in Kosh Labour Camp, applied for such a
transfer to community service. On 30 April 2011, in a document seen by
Forum 18, L. Bagdasaryan, Head of the Kosh camp’s Administrative
Commission, recommended this transfer, pointing out his good conduct and
low risk.
However, at a meeting of the Independent Parole Commission in Yerevan on 18
May, Pirapyan and two other Jehovah’s Witnesses were among prisoners at
Kosh to have their applications rejected, according to the record of the
meeting signed by Commission Chair G. Hambartsumyan and seen by Forum 18.
Will new legal amendments allow civilian alternative service?
The government’s proposed amendments to the 2003 Alternative Service Law
were prepared by Sedrak Sedrakyan and Lieutenant Colonel Sasun Simonyan of
the Defence Ministry’s Legal Directorate and subsequently approved also by
the Justice Ministry, officials of both ministries confirmed to Forum 18.
They were then approved by the government on 14 April and, on 22 April,
sent to the National Assembly, Artak Asatryan, Acting Head of the
Government’s State and Legal Affairs Department, confirmed to Forum 18 from
Yerevan on 6 July.
In its justification for the amendments, the government noted that “the
relevant stakeholders” – the conscientious objectors – cannot avail
themselves of the current alternative service because it is under military
control. It also points to lack of clarity over what documents those who
have completed alternative service should receive, and claims that it is
too difficult for those performing alternative service to change their mind
and transfer to military service.
The government said the aim of the amendments was to protect the rights of
those wishing to perform alternative service, as well as the rights of
those currently doing military service or yet to do it. It said adopting
the amendments would reduce the number of complaints and meet Armenia’s
international obligations.
The proposed amendments were discussed in Parliament’s Defence, National
Security and Internal Affairs Committee on 6 May, the Parliamentary website
noted. The Head of Parliament’s Legal Department, A. Danielyan, declared on
18 May that the proposed amendments were in accordance with the Armenian
Constitution and the principles of international law. The Defence, National
Security and Internal Affairs Committee told Forum 18 from Yerevan on 7
July that the amendments are still being considered by the Committee.
Lt Col Simonyan, deputy head of the Defence Ministry’s Legal Directorate
who was involved in preparing the amendments, told Forum 18 that the
amendments will be considered in parliament after 15 September.
What will amendments change – and leave unchanged?
According to the text published on the parliamentary website, the
amendments change only four Articles of the original December 2003 Law.
An addition to Article 14 states: “Alternative service shall be monitored
by the Commission composed of representatives of the state government
bodies from Defence, Health and Labour and Social Affairs of the Republic
of Armenia (hereinafter referred to as the authorised bodies). The
Commission carries out its activities in the areas of alternative service
by conducting not less than four visits per year to alternative service
sites to examine the conditions of labour at alternative service sites, to
examine the state of implementation of the internal rules by the head of
the alternative service site and by servicemen engaged in alternative
service. The Commission submits the results of his findings to the
authorised bodies. The composition and rules of procedure are established
by the joint order of the principals of the authorised bodies.”
The amendments also stipulate that those doing alternative service will
still be provided with a military service card, and that they will make it
easier for those doing alternative service to transfer to military service.
Lt Col Simonyan stressed that those performing civilian alternative service
will still be required to serve 42 months, compared to 24 months for
military service and 36 months for non-combat military service.
As Hammarberg of the Council of Europe pointed out in his May report, “the
European Committee of Social Rights of the Council of Europe has found that
a period of alternative service which is double the duration of military
service is excessively lengthy and contrary to Article 1.2 of the European
Social Charter. Under this article, alternative service may not exceed one
and a half times the length of armed military service.”
When Forum 18 read this to Lt Col Simonyan he laughed. Eventually he
responded: “This is not within my competence.” He also said that what will
happen to the currently imprisoned conscientious objectors is also not
within his competence.
Alternative service?
Lt Col Simonyan insisted that the alternative service would be under
civilian control after the amendments are approved. He gave the example of
a hospital as an institution which would control those doing alternative
service, and issue them with necessary clothing. However, this is not
stated anywhere within the amendments.
Simonyan told Forum 18 that anyone undergoing alternative service who
violated the terms of their service would have their case handled by the
Military Prosecutor’s Office “because the alternative service is replacing
military service”.
He told Forum 18 in December 2010 that this is because it “is a
centralised, national body, while the ordinary Prosecutor’s Office is
established on a territorial basis” – but would not explain why this is
relevant (see F18News 7 December 2010
Currently, the allegedly “civilian” alternative service is supervised by
the Military Police under regulations laid down by the Defence Ministry.
Conscientious objectors 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 – just as in the new
amendments. Conscientious objectors do not see this as a genuinely civilian
alternative service (see F18News 2 May 2007
Initial reactions
Human rights defenders and Jehovah’s Witnesses are unsure how to interpret
the proposed amendments. “I am not expert enough to judge, but to my
understanding they do not address the main problems with the law – the
duration, military supervision and the process by which one can enrol,”
Larisa Minasyan, head of Armenia’s Open Society Foundations, told Forum 18
from Yerevan on 6 July.
Jehovah’s Witnesses were equally cautious. “An examination of the draft
amendments to the Alternative Service Law does not make it clear whether
they fully satisfy our concerns,” one told Forum 18. “The key issue is the
role of the Defence Ministry. According to the amendments, four Government
ministries are involved in overseeing the Law but it is not clear exactly
what the role of the Defence Ministry is in the oversight.”
Stepan Danielyan of Collaboration for Democracy was more hopeful, regarding
the amendments as a “serious step to resolving the problem”. However, he
noted that the continuing alternative service term of 42 months is “too
long”. (END)
More coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in Armenia and
the unrecognised entity of Nagorno-Karabakh 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
(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/
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