Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05YEREVAN1958
2005-11-04 12:58:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:  

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

Tags:  PHUM PGOV AM 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

041258Z Nov 05
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001958 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2015
TAGS: PHUM PGOV AM
SUBJECT: CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
CONVICTED

REF: A) YEREVAN 477 B) 04 YEREVAN 2545

Classified By: A/DCM Robin Phillips for reasons 1.4 (b,d).

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SUMMARY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001958

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2015
TAGS: PHUM PGOV AM
SUBJECT: CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS: JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
CONVICTED

REF: A) YEREVAN 477 B) 04 YEREVAN 2545

Classified By: A/DCM Robin Phillips for reasons 1.4 (b,d).

--------------
SUMMARY
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1. (C) On November 4, a local-level court in Sevan convicted
(and sentenced to three years imprisonment) four Jehovah's
Witnesses (Armenian citizens) on charges of "absence without
leave from a military unit or place of service." The court
initially charged the Jehovah's Witnesses with "desertion by
agreement," an act the men's attorney, Richard Daniel, told
us is equivalent to mutiny and punishable by up to eight
years imprisonment. The defendants maintained in court that
they opted for alternative service, instead of imprisonment
for draft evasion, assuming that the service would be
independent of the military. European Association of
Jehovah's Christian Witnesses Representative Paul Gillies
called the convictions -- under military articles of the
Armenian Criminal Code -- confirmation that the GOAM is not
differentiating military and alternative civilian services.
Gillies said he is in Armenia to document the cases for a
complaint his association plans to file on behalf of Armenian
conscientious objectors at the European Court of Human
Rights. Fifteen other Jehovah's Witnesses are currently
slated for prosecution under similar charges in early
November. End Summary.

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COURT CONVICTS JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES FOR ABANDONING DUTIES
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2. (SBU) On November 4, the Gegharkunik District Court of
First Instance in Sevan convicted four Jehovah's Witnesses --
Artur Chilingarov, Gagik Davtyan, Vagarshak Margaryan and
Boris Melkumyan -- on charges of "absence without leave by
prior agreement," under Article 361(5) of the Armenian
Criminal Code. The conviction carried a three year prison
sentence. The court initially charged the Jehovah's
Witnesses with "desertion by agreement," an act equivalent to
mutiny and punishable by up to 8 years imprisonment,
according to European Association of Jehovah's Christian
Witnesses (EAJCW) Representative Paul Gillies and attorney
Richard Daniel, who represented the men in court.

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JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CLAIM HARSH CONDITIONS, PHYSICAL ABUSE

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3. (SBU) According to EAJCW attorney Richard Daniel,
nineteen-year-old Boris Melkumyan testified that military
police frequently patrolled the Sevan-area psychiatric
hospital where he and the three other Jehovah's Witnesses on
trial worked. Melkumyan alleged that the hospital director
Gagik Karabetyan, ordered him -- along with Chilingarov,
Davtyan, and Margaryan -- to shovel snow "with their bare
hands," to perform nursing duties for which they were
untrained, and to remove a dead body from the women's section
of the hospital. During the five months he worked at the
hospital, Melkumyan claimed he was not permitted to leave the
compound, and that Karabetyan frequently locked him -- and
his fellow conscientious objectors -- out of their barracks,
forcing them to stay outside overnight in harsh conditions.
Gillies said that on May 18, when Karabetyan locked them out
of their rooms again, the men left the hospital compound and
notified military authorities that they would not return
because the service "offended the Bible-based conscience of
the young men."

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ARMENIAN CRIMINAL CODE TOUGHER ON DESERTION THAN EVASION
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4. (C) Before the GOAM adopted the Law on Alternative
Military Services in November 2004, most conscientious
objectors opted to evade conscription. Under the Armenian
Criminal Code, the punishment for evasion is one to two years
imprisonment, about the length of military service for
Armenian conscripts. With the passage of an alternative
services law -- a law Gillies, Daniel and the four men
convicted by the Sevan court say the GOAM is improperly
administering -- many conscientious objectors accepted
conscription, "believing they would serve in true civilian
capacities." When forced to work under military supervision
Gillies maintains, "the men were forced by conviction" to
desert their service. Under the Armenian Criminal Code, the
penalties for desertion -- anywhere from three to eight years
-- are generally much higher than the penalties for draft
evasion, generally one to two years.
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COMMENT: MORE CASES ON THE WAY
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5. (C) From their perspectives, Chilingarov, Davtyan,
Margaryan, and Melkumyan would have been better off rejecting
alternative service (which carries a stiffer penalty for
desertion) and opting instead to evade conscription all
together. The Sevan convictions -- under military articles
of the Armenian Criminal Code -- call into doubt the GOAM's
commitment to establishing true alternative civilian
services. Currently 24 Jehovah's Witnesses are serving
prison sentences in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, with
fifteen defendants in similar cases awaiting trials set for
early November. Gillies and Daniel both told us that they
are in Armenia to document a complaint against the GOAM they
plan to file in the European Court of Human Rights.
EVANS