For Immediate Release
Role of Armenian State Council for Religious Affairs in prosecution of Jehovah's Witness brought to light YEREVAN, Armenia—The trial appealing a lower court's dismissal of charges against Mr. Lyova Margaryan continued today. In a surprise move, Judge Yeva Darbinyan, chairman of the three-member appeal court, produced a letter to the Prosecutor's Office from Mr. E. Safaryan, Deputy Chairman of the State Council for Religious Affairs. The letter listed alleged infractions of Mr. Margaryan as one of Jehovah's Witnesses and demanded that the Prosecutor's Office take measures. Judge Darbinyan proceeded to question Mr. Margaryan regarding the alleged offenses, mostly having to do with the stand of Jehovah's Witnesses on military service and the presence of minors at their meetings. The examination lasted two hours, with Mr. Margaryan repeatedly stating that parents are responsible for their children and have the right to raise them as they see fit and that the stand of each of Jehovah's Witnesses on military service is an individual one, based on the constitutional guarantee of freedom of conscience. Concerning the accusations leveled against him in the letter from the State Council for Religious Affairs, Mr Margaryan asked: "Is its author a qualified investigator that he can produce charges against me?" The existence of such a letter from the Council for Religious Affairs to the Prosecutor's Office shocked foreign observers at the trial. In its application for membership in the Council of Europe, Armenia acknowledged its obligation to "ensure that all Churches or religious communities, in particular those referred to as 'non-traditional,' may practise their religion without discrimination." "The introduction of this letter into the trial is significant," stated Mr. Arli Chimirov, a Moscow-based human rights lawyer appearing on behalf of Mr. Margaryan. "The whole trial was initiated at the behest of the Armenian State Council for Religious Affairs and is a transparent attempt to somehow justify the Committee's many past rejections of registration of Jehovah's Witnesses despite Armenia's commitments to the Council of Europe. We are extremely dismayed that the General Prosecutor's Office has allowed itself to be so easily manipulated, especially when a law-abiding father of three is facing a jail term of up to five years as well as loss of home and livelihood." Mr. Margaryan is charged under Article 244 of the Armenian Criminal Code. The law, passed during the Khrushchev era, was used to oppress and eliminate religious groups until the fall of the Soviet Union. It has since been repealed by other former republics including the Russian Federation, which declared it repressive and a tool of a totalitarian State. The trial resumes Monday, January 28, 2002, at noon. Contact numbers in Armenia:
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