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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Thursday 9 November 2006
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: NO GUARANTEES FOR RELIGIOUS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

The proposed Nagorno-Karabakh Constitution may have little practical
impact. However, human rights activists and religious believers are
concerned, they have told Forum 18 News Service, about the absence of any
guarantee of alternative non-military service. "If alternative service is
not there in the constitution, it doesn’t make it impossible for it to be
introduced later – the Constitution is not dogma. But it does make it more
difficult," Albert Voskanyan of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives told
Forum 18. "It is bad that such a provision is not there, just as it is bad
it is not there in the Armenian Constitution," Jehovah’s Witness lawyer
Lyova Markaryan told Forum 18. Two Jehovah’s Witnesses and one Baptist
have been jailed in recent years for refusing military service on grounds
of conscience. Some have also expressed concern about the draft
Constitution’s recognition of the Armenian Apostolic Church’s "exclusive
mission" as the "national church."

NAGORNO-KARABAKH: NO GUARANTEES FOR RELIGIOUS CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;

Human rights activists and religious believers have told Forum 18 News
Service of their concern about the absence of a guarantee of alternative
non-military service in the draft Constitution. This was approved almost
unanimously by the Nagorno-Karabakh parliament on 1 November and is due to
be voted on in a referendum on 10 December.

If approved, the Constitution will be the first for the unrecognised
entity of Nagorno-Karabakh in the South Caucasus. As with constitutions in
other parts of the region, this constitution is unlikely to be more than a
decorative document.

Despite this, it may still cause problems. The proposed article 57
requires all to take part in the entity’s defence and makes no mention of
any alternative service. "Society and the authorities here are not ready
for this," Albert Voskanyan of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives told
Forum 18 from the capital Stepanakert on 2 November. "If alternative
service is not there in the constitution, it doesn’t make it impossible
for it to be introduced later – the Constitution is not dogma. But it does
make it more difficult."

Hoping for the introduction of alternative service were the Jehovah’s
Witnesses, two of whom have been sentenced in Nagorno-Karabakh in recent
years for refusing military service on grounds of conscience. One, Areg
Hovhanesyan, is still serving his four-year sentence in the prison in
Shusha (see F18News 22 February 2005
< e_id=517>). "It is bad that such
a provision is not there, just as it is bad it is not there in the Armenian
Constitution," Jehovah’s Witness lawyer Lyova Markaryan told Forum 18 from
the Armenian capital Yerevan on 6 November. "It would be better if it were
there. This would enhance the rights of individuals to confess their
religion."

A Baptist conscript, Gagik Mirzoyan, has also been jailed in
Nagorno-Karabakh for refusing to swear the military oath and bear arms on
grounds of conscience. Although now out of prison and back in a military
unit, it is unclear whether the authorities will take further action
against him (see F18News 18 September 2006
< e_id=841>). Fellow Baptist
Garnik Abreyan told Forum 18, from Stepanakert on 6 November, that
Mirzoyan is "well" and "has no complaints" in his unit.

Voskanyan of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives told Forum 18 that
Mirzoyan was visited twice in his unit by the military prosecutor’s office
since being freed from prison, but is now being left to serve without
swearing the military oath and without weapons. "The authorities don’t
want any fuss about his case right now, but we don’t know what will happen
to Gagik in future."

Voskanyan said his group wrote to the entity’s parliament on 30 October,
calling for the provision of an alternative non-military service to be
introduced in the draft constitution. "Fully realising the complexity of
the situation of ‘neither war, nor peace’," his group told parliament, "we
are sure that the given measure would not pose a threat to national
security, as international practice shows that those who take up
alternative civilian service comprise an insignificant percentage of the
total number of those called up."

However, Ashot Gulyan, the speaker of the Nagorno-Karabakh parliament,
told Forum 18 from Stepanakert on 6 November that, given the absence of a
final peace agreement, "we can’t allow other forms of service". He
dismissed suggestions that only a handful of people would opt for
alternative service were it to be introduced, even if such service were
for example in medical facilities along the frontline. But he claimed the
Nagorno-Karabakh authorities would consider such alternative service "in
the future".

Nagorno-Karabakh has adopted Armenia’s Criminal Code, which also punishes
conscientious objection – see eg. F18News 23 February 2006
< e_id=733>. With backing from
Armenia, Nagorno-Karabakh fought a bitter war with Azerbaijan in the late
1980s and early 1990s. One Armenian citizen, Jehovah’s Witness
conscientious objector Armen Grigoryan, who was illegally deported from
Armenia to Nagorno-Karabakh, was given a two-year prison term in Karabakh
and sent back to Armenia to serve the sentence (see F18News 7 July 2005
< e_id=600> and 17 May 2005
< e_id=563>).

Voskanyan of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives – who has campaigned for
the release of imprisoned conscientious objectors – stressed to Forum 18
that his group will continue to lobby for alternative service to be
included both in the constitution and in other laws and practice.

Some human rights activists and religious minorities have also expressed
concern about a provision in the draft Constitution recognising the
Armenian Apostolic Church’s "exclusive mission" as the "national church in
the spiritual life of the people of Artsakh [Nagorno-Karabakh] and in the
cause of the development of its national culture and preservation of
national identity". Markaryan of the Jehovah’s Witnesses described the
provision to Forum 18 as "a sign of no tolerance".

But parliamentary speaker Gulyan dismissed any concerns. "The word
‘exclusive’ does not exclude anything," he told Forum 18. "This will have
no negative impact on other faiths."

Asked why, if the provision will have no impact, it was included in the
draft, Gulyan responded: "It is to show we come from a long Christian
tradition over many centuries and that we respect the role of the Armenian
Apostolic Church." Asked whether this provision referred solely to the
past, he replied: "It applies to the past, to today and to the future."

The controversial provision – which is lifted almost word-for-word from
the 2005 constitution of neighbouring Armenia – comes in Article 10 part 2
of the draft constitution.

Parliamentary speaker Gulyan stressed to Forum 18 that part 1 of Article
10 guarantees that religion is separate from the state. "For us, part 1 is
more important. The state doesn’t interfere in religious issues." He also
pointed out that Article 26 guarantees freedom of thought, religion and
belief and the free functioning of religious communities "functioning in
the order prescribed by law". Asked to explain this phrase, Gulyan said
that this refers to religious communities which have state registration.
Asked what this means for religious communities that do not have or do not
want legal status he gave contradictory replies. "Religious communities
can’t function without registration," he declared first. He then mentioned
Baptists and others who function without legal status. "They meet, don’t
they? That’s OK."

The Jehovah’s Witnesses – who claim more than 200 adherents in
Nagorno-Karabakh, mostly in Stepanakert – are one of the more visible
religious minorities. Markaryan said they are not obstructed in holding
meetings in private homes. He said the community has not sought legal
status in Karabakh as no religion law exists setting out such rights to
such status. He said partly for that reason the community has not tried to
build a Kingdom Hall for meetings in Stepanakert.

Abreyan, a leader of the Council of Churches Baptist congregation in
Stepanakert, who refuse on principle to register with the authorities,
said he had not studied the draft of the constitution. "Maybe this
provision would be a minus," he told Forum 18, "but I don’t have time to
devote to politics." He said his church can currently meet for worship. In
the past, his and other small Protestant congregations have been obstructed
in trying to meet for worship (see F18News 27 September 2004
< e_id=420>).

Members of other Protestant denominations with small groups in
Nagorno-Karabakh declined to comment on the draft constitution or on the
life of their communities.

Voskanyan of the Centre for Civilian Initiatives rejected the idea of
giving the Armenian Church any exclusive mission in the new constitution.
"I believe this is not right," he told Forum 18. "There should be no
monopoly for any one Church. Our people have just copied this from the
Armenian Constitution." (END)

A printer-friendly map of the disputed enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh is
available at
< s/atlas/index.html?Parent=asia&Rootmap=azerba& gt;
within the map titled ‘Azerbaijan’.
(END)

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From: Baghdasarian