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 3 November 2009
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: "IF THEY VIOLATE THE LAW BY MEETING TOGETHER FOR
RELIGIOUS PURPOSES, THEY WILL BE FINED"
Jehovah’s Witnesses in the internationally unrecognised entity of
Nagorno-Karabakh, in the south Caucasus, have lost a legal challenge to the
entity’s refusal to grant them legal status, Forum 18 News Service has
learned. An appeal to the entity’s Supreme Court may be made. Ashot
Sargsyan, head of the Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs
vigorously defended to Forum 18 denial of registration to Jehovah’s
Witnesses and a local Protestant Church. Sargsyan said that, without
registration, individual believers have the right to conduct religious
activity – such as to pray – alone at home. But he said neither of the two
groups can meet together as a community, even in private. "If they violate
the law by meeting together for religious purposes, they will be fined,"
Sargsyan pledged. Both groups have told Forum 18 that low-profile meetings
are not currently being obstructed.
NAGORNO-KARABAKH: "IF THEY VIOLATE THE LAW BY MEETING TOGETHER FOR
RELIGIOUS PURPOSES, THEY WILL BE FINED"
By Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service <;
On 28 October a court challenge against legal status denial of Jehovah’s
Witnesses in the internationally unrecognised entity of Nagorno-Karabakh in
the south Caucasus failed, Forum 18 News Service has learned. Vigorously
defending the denial of registration to both the Jehoavh’s Witnesses and a
local Protestant congregation is Ashot Sargsyan, head of the government’s
Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs. "Our Religion Law
bans proselytism, so they don’t have the right to spread their faith," he
told Forum 18 from the capital Stepanakert on 2 November. "Our Law says we
cannot register them."
Sargsyan said that, without registration, individual believers have the
right to conduct religious activity – such as to pray – alone at home. But
neither of the two groups can meet together as a community, even in
private. "If they violate the law by meeting together for religious
purposes, they will be fined," he pledged. "But I don’t get involved in
that – it is a question for the law-enforcement agencies."
Judge Anatoli Tatevosyan, of the General Court of First Instance in
Stepanakert, heard the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ suit on 15 and 16 October. His
judgement of 28 October, seen by Forum 18, argues that the Jehovah’s
Witness charter allows what he called "soul-hunting" (proselytism), which
is banned in Karabakh’s Religion Law for all communities apart from the
Armenian Apostolic Church. Therefore, the Judge maintains, the group cannot
be registered. Jehovah’s Witnesses told Forum 18 they are considering
challenging this decision to Karabakh’s Supreme Court. They have one month
to do so.
Also denied registration in Karabakh is the Revival Fire Evangelical
Church in Stepanakert, led by Pastor Levon Sardaryan (see F18News 4 May
2009 < 1290>).
Registration became possible – and apparently compulsory – in the wake of
a new Religion Law – heavily based on the Religion Law of neighbouring
Armenia – which came into force in January 2009. The main restrictions in
Karabakh’s new Law are: an apparent ban on unregistered religious activity;
state censorship of religious literature; the requirement for 100 adult
citizens to register a religious community; an undefined "monopoly" given
to the Armenian Apostolic Church over preaching and spreading its faith
while restricting other faiths to similarly undefined "rallying their own
faithful"; and the vague formulation of restrictions, making the intended
implementation of many articles uncertain (see F18News 4 May 2009
< e_id=1290>).
Sargsyan admitted to Forum 18 that the Religion Law contains restrictions
on religious communities other than the Armenian Apostolic Church, but
claimed these are in line with Karabakh’s Constitution and international
human rights norms. "Article 8 of the Religion Law bans proselytism – this
isn’t a limitation on freedom of speech. In Norway too such rights are
limited. And if you go out on the streets spreading your faith in Greece,
Azerbaijan or Iran, you will be punished," he told Forum 18. "It’s the same
here." He became notably vague when asked in what precise ways he thought
that other countries limit human rights.
Forum 18 notes that Norway, in line with its international human rights
commitments, does not limit human rights in the way that the unrecognised
entity of Nagorno-Karabakh does.
Sargsyan told Forum 18 that five religious communities have been
registered in 2009, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Catholic Church, the
Russian Orthodox Church, the Armenian Evangelical Church and the
Brotherhood movement associated with the Apostolic Church.
Other religious communities that exist in Karabakh include the Baptist
Union, Council of Churches Baptist congregations, and Seventh-day
Adventists. Armenia’s Baptist Union and the Adventist Church told Forum 18
that their churches in Karabakh have not applied for registration, as they
are part of entities legally registered in Armenia. Both told Forum 18
their congregations in Karabakh have not faced any problems from the
authorities. Council of Churches Baptists have a policy of not seeking
state registration in any of the post-Soviet countries where they operate.
What will happen when unregistered groups meet for worship?
Both Revival Fire Church and the Jehovah’s Witnesses have told Forum 18
they will continue to operate. "We continue to meet in private homes –
no-one has banned us," Pastor Sardaryan noted. "But we don’t have any legal
status and we can’t conduct any large scale public activity."
Lyova Markaryan, an Armenian-based lawyer for the Jehovah’s Witnesses,
pointed out that the October court judgment does not specifically ban their
activity. "We can’t act as a legal entity, such as formally importing
literature, renting premises for meetings or congresses, or building a
Kingdom Hall," he told Forum 18 from the Armenian capital Yerevan on 2
November.
Markaryan said the community is not currently being obstructed from
meeting. He said the most recent harassment came on 8 June, when Karabakh
customs seized religious literature from their members returning from a
congress in Armenia. "They stopped a number of minibuses which our members
were travelling on," he told Forum 18. "They told our people that as we are
not registered we have no right to import our literature." Markaryan said
they do not know how customs officials knew which passengers on which
minibuses to target.
"Expert conclusions" lead to registration denials
Sardaryan’s Revival Fire Church was the first to be denied legal status,
after Sargsyan of the Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs
wrote an "expert conclusion" in February 2009. This accused the group of
conducting "proselytism" and using "methods of psychological pressure" on
church members.
"Of course we don’t agree with this decision," Pastor Sardaryan told Forum
18 from Stepanakert on 2 November. He said they had engaged a psychology
professor from Stepanakert University to write an "expert conclusion" for
them. "She gave us a positive assessment, but Ashot Sargsyan refused to
accept it and just used his own. He never visited us, but just told us he
had his own methods of investigation."
Pastor Sardaryan added that he had hoped to challenge the registration
denial in court and had engaged a lawyer to do so, but the time scale for
challenging the rejection ran out before they had a chance to lodge the
case. "I didn’t know we had only two months to do so," he told Forum 18.
The Jehovah’s Witnesses’ registration application – which was signed by
114 adult citizens – reached the government on 22 June. A 12-page negative
"expert conclusion", signed by Sargsyan of the Department for Ethnic
Minority and Religious Affairs, was then produced. This was sent to the
Jehovah’s Witnesses by Suren Grigoryan, the ‘Chief of Staff Minister’ in
the entity’s government, in a 6 July letter seen by Forum 18. On 3 August
the State Registry formally rejected the application. The Jehovah’s
Witnesses lodged their court case against the State Registry on 14
September.
The "expert assessment" of the Jehovah’s Witnesses asserts that they use
"a number of methods of psychological influence towards believers", with
their preachers using "psychological methods" of inspiration and
persuasion. "When these methods are used, a person totally comes under
influence, i.e. he is transforming his thinking, conduct and stereotype."
He alleges that people suffering from stress, depression or poverty are
more likely to be susceptible to such methods.
"Adherents are subject to mental processing, which is accomplished by
numerous gatherings, seminars, lectures, retraining, preaching and
corresponding other ways, the purpose of which is to kill an individual’s
analytical thinking regarding the activity, methods and theory of the
religious organisation," the assessment asserts.
The assessment objects to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rejection of blood
transfusions, under which "hundreds of believers every year are deprived of
medical care and die", rejection of military service and rejection of
voting. Sargsyan repeated these assertions about the Jehovah’s Witnesses
to the court.
Chief of Staff Minister Grigoryan, who sent the negative assessment to the
Jehovah’s Witnesses in July, was unavailable to speak to Forum 18 on 3
November. His assistant told Forum 18 that he "merely would have signed the
letter on behalf of the government" and would not be prepared to speak to
Forum 18 about why such negative assessments were issued against them and
Revival Fire Church. (END)
Further coverage of freedom of thought, conscience and belief in
Nagorno-Karabakh is at
< mp;religion=all&country=22>.
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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