US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN1958

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001958 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/04/2015 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, AM 
SUBJECT: CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTIONS:  JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES 
CONVICTED 
 
REF: A) YEREVAN 477 B) 04 YEREVAN 2545 
 
Classified By: A/DCM Robin Phillips for reasons 1.4 (b,d). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (C) On November 4, a local-level court in Sevan convicted 
(and sentenced to three years imprisonment) four Jehovah's 
Witnesses (Armenian citizens) on charges of "absence without 
leave from a military unit or place of service."  The court 
initially charged the Jehovah's Witnesses with "desertion by 
agreement," an act the men's attorney, Richard Daniel, told 
us is equivalent to mutiny and punishable by up to eight 
years imprisonment.  The defendants maintained in court that 
they opted for alternative service, instead of imprisonment 
for draft evasion, assuming that the service would be 
independent of the military.  European Association of 
Jehovah's Christian Witnesses Representative Paul Gillies 
called the convictions -- under military articles of the 
Armenian Criminal Code -- confirmation that the GOAM is not 
differentiating military and alternative civilian services. 
Gillies said he is in Armenia to document the cases for a 
complaint his association plans to file on behalf of Armenian 
conscientious objectors at the European Court of Human 
Rights.  Fifteen other Jehovah's Witnesses are currently 
slated for prosecution under similar charges in early 
November.  End Summary. 
 
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COURT CONVICTS JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES FOR ABANDONING DUTIES 
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2. (SBU) On November 4, the Gegharkunik District Court of 
First Instance in Sevan convicted four Jehovah's Witnesses -- 
Artur Chilingarov, Gagik Davtyan, Vagarshak Margaryan and 
Boris Melkumyan -- on charges of "absence without leave by 
prior agreement," under Article 361(5) of the Armenian 
Criminal Code.  The conviction carried a three year prison 
sentence.  The court initially charged the Jehovah's 
Witnesses with "desertion by agreement," an act equivalent to 
mutiny and punishable by up to 8 years imprisonment, 
according to European Association of Jehovah's Christian 
Witnesses (EAJCW) Representative Paul Gillies and attorney 
Richard Daniel, who represented the men in court. 
 
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JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CLAIM HARSH CONDITIONS, PHYSICAL ABUSE 
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3. (SBU) According to EAJCW attorney Richard Daniel, 
nineteen-year-old Boris Melkumyan testified that military 
police frequently patrolled the Sevan-area psychiatric 
hospital where he and the three other Jehovah's Witnesses on 
trial worked.  Melkumyan alleged that the hospital director 
Gagik Karabetyan, ordered him -- along with Chilingarov, 
Davtyan, and Margaryan -- to shovel snow "with their bare 
hands," to perform nursing duties for which they were 
untrained, and to remove a dead body from the women's section 
of the hospital.  During the five months he worked at the 
hospital, Melkumyan claimed he was not permitted to leave the 
compound, and that Karabetyan frequently locked him -- and 
his fellow conscientious objectors -- out of their barracks, 
forcing them to stay outside overnight in harsh conditions. 
Gillies said that on May 18, when Karabetyan locked them out 
of their rooms again, the men left the hospital compound and 
notified military authorities that they would not return 
because the service "offended the Bible-based conscience of 
the young men." 
 
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ARMENIAN CRIMINAL CODE TOUGHER ON DESERTION THAN EVASION 
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4. (C) Before the GOAM adopted the Law on Alternative 
Military Services in November 2004, most conscientious 
objectors opted to evade conscription.  Under the Armenian 
Criminal Code, the punishment for evasion is one to two years 
imprisonment, about the length of military service for 
Armenian conscripts.  With the passage of an alternative 
services law -- a law Gillies, Daniel and the four men 
convicted by the Sevan court say the GOAM is improperly 
administering -- many conscientious objectors accepted 
conscription, "believing they would serve in true civilian 
capacities."  When forced to work under military supervision 
Gillies maintains, "the men were forced by conviction" to 
desert their service.  Under the Armenian Criminal Code, the 
penalties for desertion -- anywhere from three to eight years 
-- are generally much higher than the penalties for draft 
evasion, generally one to two years. 
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COMMENT:  MORE CASES ON THE WAY 
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5. (C) From their perspectives, Chilingarov, Davtyan, 
Margaryan, and Melkumyan would have been better off rejecting 
alternative service (which carries a stiffer penalty for 
desertion) and opting instead to evade conscription all 
together.  The Sevan convictions -- under military articles 
of the Armenian Criminal Code -- call into doubt the GOAM's 
commitment to establishing true alternative civilian 
services.  Currently 24 Jehovah's Witnesses are serving 
prison sentences in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, with 
fifteen defendants in similar cases awaiting trials set for 
early November.  Gillies and Daniel both told us that they 
are in Armenia to document a complaint against the GOAM they 
plan to file in the European Court of Human Rights. 
EVANS