Seven Jehovah’s witnesses, who have refused to continue alternative civil service, are sentenced to imprisonment for leaving the site voluntarily. The sentenced are in the list of the 22 young people who have stopped completing their alternative civil service, claiming that they have been under the supervision of the Ministry of Defense and that goes against their religious beliefs. The Jehovah’s witnesses are against military service (see the article in the 46 edition of “168 hours” weekly).
Nineteen year olds Artur Chilingarov, Gagik Davtyan, Vagharshak Markaryan and 20 year old Boris Melkumyan have been sentenced to imprisonment. They were accused of an organized crime for which it was foreseen to sentence 4-10 years in prison. The prosecutor was not too severe when writing his accusation and demanded 3-5 years in jail for the organized abandonment of the service site, instead of the crime.
Narek Alaverdyan and Arsen Sevoyan, who have served the Kapan psychiatric center, have both been sentenced for two years in prison. As for Shaliko Sargsyan, who has served in a Yerevan clinic, he has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for the accusation of crime (if organized crime is punished for 4-10 years, the individual is up to 4 years). There are yet another 15 young men waiting for their verdict.
Richard Daniel, who is a 70 year old British attorney for the young men at the Sevan courthouse, has 44 years of experience and has managed to study and translate the Armenian legislation in English. His only comment on the legislation is that the legislation has constituted severe punishments for leaving the site voluntarily. “It is very severe if they sentence the person to 10 years in prison,” says Daniel. He also thinks that the law about alternative civil service is incomplete. For the British lawyer (who is himself a Jehovah’s witness), it is strange that the judge and the prosecutor are spending the time given for intermission together. “There is no such thing in my country,” says the British lawyer. “In our country, the two sides meet with the judge. Here, if the prosecutor had to stay with the court, that meant I had to stay too so that one side does not suspect the other in a transaction with the judge. However, Daniel is disappointed about the fact that the court has sentenced the boys after passing the law about departing from the alternative civil service center.
In the “law about alternative service” passed in July 2004, it is stated that alternative civil service is not considered as military service. When they were going to serve, it was not clear as to what punishment awaited them upon leaving the site voluntarily. However, 15 days after the change in the alternative civil service law, the men are punished according to the articles foreseen for the military. In the beginning, the youth has been examined by the military examiner and then the civil one.
“That is a major principle on the basis for international law. Once the law is passed, it is passed. That is also the law of the Republic of Armenia . If that law was applied, then they would not go to the service. I am happy that the prosecutor changed the article around and made the punishment less severe. However, whatever happens, this was an illegal verdict and we are going to protest,” said Daniel.