Fwd: Jehovah Witnesses in Armenia
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From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 8 Dec 2001 16:36:21 +0200 (EET)
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Subject: Fwd: Jehovah Witnesses in Armenia
From: MINELRES moderator <[email protected]>
Original sender: Eldar Zeynalov <[email protected]>
Fwd: Jehovah Witnesses in Armenia
-------Forwarded Message-------------
From: HRWF - DHSF International Secretariat
Press Service: France/Bulgaria/Armenia
Human Rights Without Frontiers
Phone: 32 2 3456145 - Fax: 32 2 3437491
"Religious Intolerance and Discrimination"
Table of contents
FRANCE: French government steps up efforts to unify Muslim groups in
the country
BULGARIA: Common cause of historical religions against new religious
movements
......
ARMENIA
Armenian prosecutor appeals acquittal of Jehovah's Witness
JW Office of Public Information (12.11.2001)
HRWF International Secretariat (14.11.2001)
Website: www.hrwf.net
Email: [email protected]
- On November 14, the Appeal Court of the Republic of Armenia will
consider an appeal from the Prosecutor's Office against Judge Mamvel
Simonyan's decision of September 18 to acquit Lyova Margaryan of all
criminal charges under Article 244 of the Armenian Criminal Code.
Margaryan is being prosecuted for his religious activity as one of
Jehovah's Witnesses.
In their written appeal, Prosecutors Minasyan and Hovhannisyan insist
that the court wrongly interpreted the law and that Margaryan is
guilty under Article 244. In response Margaryan's lawyers state: "The
prosecutor is trying to reinstitute the Soviet policy of terror and
mass persecution of religious believers."
Article 244 was introduced in the early 1960s as part of an
anti-religion campaign initiated by Nikita Khrushchev. In 1991 the
Russia Federation repealed the same article from the former Criminal
Code of Russia by the law On Exonerating Victims of Political
Persecution. The preamble to this law states: "During the years of
Soviet power millions of people became the victims of the tyranny of
the totalitarian State, and were subject to persecution for political
and religious convictions, and on social, national, and other bases.
Condemning the many-year terror and mass persecution of its people as
incompatible with the ideas of law and justice, the Supreme Soviet
expresses its deep sympathy to victims of unwarranted persecution,
their friends and relatives, and declares its unwavering aspiration to
achieve real guarantees ensuring legality and human rights." Numerous
Jehovah's Witnesses were rehabilitated and compensated under this law.
This case has drawn international media attention and comments from
human rights organizations. The Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe in its press release of September 18, 2001,
stated: "Although welcoming the verdict, the OSCE Office continues to
regret that the prosecution was launched in the first place."
Amnesty International issued a public statement following the trial
that warned: "The mere fact that [Lyova] Margaryan was charged under
these provisions sends a worrying signal for the future of religious
freedom in Armenia. If convicted and sentenced to imprisonment,
Amnesty International would have considered [Lyova] Margaryan a
prisoner of conscience, imprisoned solely on account of his
non-violent religious activities."
Jehovah's Witnesses are an internationally recognized Christian
religion. There are over 6 million active members, with more than
7,000 in Armenia. They are officially recognized in 150 countries. The
European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly described Jehovah's
Witnesses as a "known religion" entitled to protection of the European
Convention of Human Rights.
--
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