WorldNetDaily, OR
April 16 2005
Christian soldier beaten, imprisoned
Punished for sharing faith, literature with colleagues
By Michael Ireland
© 2005 Assist News Service
Baptist conscript Gagik Mirzoyan — who is conducting unarmed service
in the army of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh republic — has been
beaten and punished with more than 10 days in detention since the
beginning of April for sharing his faith with other soldiers and
possessing several Christian calendars.
Felix Corley, writing for Forum 18 News Service, says Mirzoyan’s
relatives and friends told Forum 18 from Nagorno-Karabakh Thursday
that before being transferred to an unknown location, Mirzoyan was
threatened with a prison sentence of two years.
Nagorno-Karabakh is disputed terrority that lies between Armenia and
Azerbaijan in the former Soviet Union.
Forum 18 says it has been unable to reach V. Davidov, commanding
officer of Mirzoyan’s former unit in Nagorno-Karabakh’s south-eastern
Hadrut region, to find out why he ordered or allowed one of his
troops to be beaten and detained merely for expressing his faith and
possessing religious calendars.
“Forum 18 also tried to find out from the defense ministry why
Mirzoyan has been punished, but an official at the ministry told
Forum 18 from the capital Stepanakert yesterday that the minister,
General Seyran Ohanyan, was out of the office and that no-one else
was immediately available. Telephones also went unanswered at
Nagorno-Karabakh’s foreign ministry,” Corley writes in his report.
Corley said that on Monday, relatives and friends went to military
unit 42009 in Hadrut to see Mirzoyan after hearing that he had been
beaten and given 10 days of detention at the guardhouse.
“When we got there he had already been held under arrest for 12 days
but still had not been freed,” they told Forum 18.
They reported that when they were able to see Mirzoyan, the “results
of beatings” were visible on his face. Military personnel at the base
told the visitors Mirzoyan would be freed the following day, Tuesday,
and they would then be able to talk to him.
Corley writes: “Despite these promises, Mirzoyan continued to be
detained and during the day was threatened by the head of the unit’s
political department and by an official of the prosecutor’s office
that a case against him would be drawn up, handed to the prosecutor’s
office and he would be sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. Forum 18
has been unable to discover what charges are being or might be
levelled against Mirzoyan.”
Mirzoyan’s relatives and friends told Forum 18, “Through the grace of
God we were later able to have a 10-minute meeting with brother Gagik
and discovered that he is being persecuted for preaching the Gospel
and because they found several Christian calendars in his possession.
Now he has been taken away to an unknown destination and they are not
saying where he is and what has happened to him.”
Mirzoyan was called up in December, Corley said.
Corley writes: “After refusing to serve with weapons and swear the
military oath because of his faith Mirzoyan was beaten and pressured
by the commander of the unit to which he was transferred and Fr.
Petros Yezegyan, the unit’s Armenian Apostolic military chaplain.
Both the defence minister, General Ohanyan, and Fr. Yezegyan
emphatically denied to Forum 18 that Mirzoyan had been beaten.”
The army later agreed that Mirzoyan could serve in a non-combat role
and he was transferred to the unit in Hadrut region, Corley reported.
According to Corley: “Nagorno-Karabakh has no provision for
alternative service for those who have religious or other
conscientious objections to participating in the armed forces. On
Feb. 16 a court in Stepanakert handed down a four-year prison term to
Areg Hovhanesyan, a Jehovah’s Witness who had refused to serve
because of his faith but had expressed a willingness to perform an
alternative civilian service.
