In late 2010 the case of a member of the "Jehovah's Witnesses", an Armenian citizen by the name of Bayadyan was brought before the European Court of Human Rights. He incurred a criminal sentence for draft-dodging and addressed the European Court of Human Rights. He believed that the criminal sentence for draft-dodging is a breach of religious liberty provided by the Convention on Human Rights. The lower chamber of the European Court of Human Rights disagreed. He then appealed against the decision to the upper chamber. There he was promised that a decision would be delivered within a year.
According to the Armenian Ministry of Justice, the "Jehovah's Witnesses" organization was registered in the early 2000s in Armenia. In the 1980s this organization numbered just 100 members, in the mid-nineties - 8000. Now it numbers about 20,000 members. Some "Jehovah's Witnesses" refuse to do alternative civilian service, preferring imprisonment. 76 "Jehovah's Witnesses" are currently imprisoned due to draft-dodging.
Many experts believe that alternative civilian service plan was a complete failure in Armenia. The overwhelming majority of young Armenian men prefer to do standard military service. According to the Ministry of Defence, nobody chose alternative civilian or labour service in 2009-2010. From 1 July 2009 to 1 June 2010, 35 members of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" organization were adjudicated for dodging conscription and alternative civilian service. Their religion prohibits them from carrying arms.However, there is also another point of view. This implies that Armenia is not discharging its commitments on amending the law "On alternative civilian service", undertaken before the Council of Europe. In 2007, the СЕ urged the Armenian authorities to reconsider the law passed in 2003.
However, no steps have been taken yet. A human rights advocate and the head of the Helsinki assembly, Mikael Danielyan, said :"The law does not work. It does not correspond to international standards. Therefore, the members of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" organization prefer to be imprisoned rather then do alternative civilian service." He also noted that Armenian society is very intolerant towards members of religious sects. This negative attitude has literally expelled all the Baha'i and Hare Krishna devotees from Armenia.
Over 97 % of the country's population is made up of Armenians. The overwhelming majority of Armenians are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, except for a relatively small number of Armenian Catholics. The percentage of orthodox believers, evangelicals, Molokans, Pentecostalists, Seventh-Day Adventists, Baptists, Yezidis, Jehovah's Witnesses, Judaists and Sunni Moslems is very small. Most people are tolerant towards traditional religions, but not towards sects. Nevertheless, nowadays 64 sects are officially registered in Armenia. Over 100 informal religious organizations currently function in the republic. About 100 thousand people are members of various sects. According to the Center for rehabilitation and assistance to victims of destructive cults, members of sects (including "Jehovah's Witnesses") work in all governmental institutions.
According to the Center's head, Alexander Amaryan, "Jehovah's Witnesses" seek to mess up and disorganize of governmental institutions. In particular, draft-dodging is gradually becoming a grave menace. The intolerance towards religious pluralism is in this case of largely cultural origin. It is pre-determined by the centuries-old struggle of the Armenian people for the preservation of their religious traditions.
Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusive for VK
