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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Tuesday 12 October 2004
ARMENIA: WILL ARMENIA NOW FULFIL ALL ITS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITMENTS?

After repeated refusals over a nine-year period, the Jehovah’s Witness
community has finally received state registration. Hratch Keshishian, a
Jehovah’s Witness leader, told Forum 18 News Service that “when they
phoned us from the state registry to tell us that registration had been
issued I didn’t believe them.” But it is not known what impact this
will have on the Jehovah’s Witnesses serving prison terms for refusing
military service, thus breaking Armenia’s commitments to the Council of
Europe. Keshishian told Forum 18 that freedom to practise their faith as a
religious community is now the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ aim, as
“registration in itself doesn’t resolve all our problems.” For
example, under Armenia’s religion law, but against international human
rights obligations, only the Armenian Apostolic Church is legally permitted
to conduct missionary activity.

ARMENIA: WILL ARMENIA NOW FULFIL ALL ITS HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITMENTS?

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service

After a nine-year battle and repeated refusals, Armenia’s Jehovah’s Witness
community has finally received state registration. “We only got the
certificate yesterday,” Hratch Keshishian, a Jehovah’s Witness leader,
told Forum 18 News Service from the Armenian capital Yerevan today (12
October). “When they phoned us from the state registry to tell us that
registration had been issued I didn’t believe them.” Describing this
as “a great joy”, Keshishian said he did not know what impact the
move would have on the Jehovah’s Witnesses serving prison terms for
refusing military service.

The registration certificate, issued by the state registry of legal
entities on 8 October and signed by the deputy justice minister Tigran
Mukuchyan, came in response to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ fourteenth
application, lodged on 9 September. Keshishian said the registration covers
the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ activity across the whole of the country. All
earlier applications had been rejected on various grounds, including that
the group’s beliefs or practices violated the law (see F18News 3 August
2004 ). The main reason
for rejecting one application earlier this year was that the Jehovah’s
Witnesses had forgotten to indicate the number of copies they were
filing.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses, who first applied for state registration in
Armenia in 1995, were the only significant religious community to have been
denied such registration. Without this they were not allowed to print or
import religious literature, rent places for meetings, hold conventions or
build places of worship, Kingdom Halls.

Registering the Jehovah’s Witnesses was a key demand of the Council of
Europe, although Keshishian insists that freedom to practise their faith as
a religious community is the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ aim. “Registration
in itself doesn’t resolve all our problems,” he told Forum 18. Under
Armenia’s 1997 religion law, even religious communities with registration
are not allowed to conduct missionary activity (Article 17 of the law gives
the dominant Armenian Apostolic Church a monopoly on missionary
activity).

Keshishian identified the Jehovah’s Witnesses current key aims as acquiring
religious literature legally and resolving the problem of their refusal to
perform military service on grounds of conscience. He told Forum 18 that it
is “too early” for them to think about building Kingdom Halls
across the country, not least because of money. “This is a question
for the future.” He reported that the “nearly 9,000”
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been meeting in small groups in private homes
“in nearly all parts of the country”.

Despite a new law on alternative military service, which came into force on
1 July, the Jehovah’s Witnesses remain unhappy. The alternative service
being offered is not in line with Council of Europe standards as it is far
longer than military service and is not genuinely non-military as
conscripts remain under the authority of the Ministry of Defence (see
F18News 3 August 2004 ).

As of 24 September, eight male Jehovah’s Witnesses were serving prison
terms of between one and two years for refusing military service, while a
further five were arrested and awaiting trial. Another three have had to
sign undertakings not to leave their home as they await trial. On 29 March,
Stepan Epremyan was sentenced to a fine of 300,000 drams (3,868 Norwegian
kroner, 471 Euros or 580 US dollars) for refusing military service.

Keshishian said it was their hope that the imprisoned conscientious
objectors would now be freed from labour camps and charges dropped against
those awaiting trial. “Our young men are ready to do an alternative
civilian service, but unfortunately that doesn’t yet exist,” he told
Forum 18. “The next call-up begins in November, and we don’t know what
will happen then.”

A printer-friendly map of Armenia is available at
;Rootmap=armeni
(END)

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