Armenia: "Respect my human dignity": Imprisonment of conscientious objectors

Index Number: EUR 54/006/1999
Date Published: 31 August 1999
Categories: Armenia, Europe And Central Asia

This document updates the situation of conscientious objectors in Armenia. It gives details of specific cases of young men who have been imprisoned and beaten for refusing to take part in military service, particularly on the grounds of religious beliefs for Jehovah's Witnesses. In some cases members of the young men's families have been detained illegally as hostages to force them to appear at the conscription office. The report concludes with an examination of the international reaction to the situation in Armenia and a comparison to the treatment of conscientious objectors in Azerbaijan and Georgia.