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Armenia violates Jehovah's Witnesses' rights-Amnesty
16 Jan 2008 00:01:23 GMT
 Source: Reuters
MOSCOW, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Armenia is violating its citizens' right to "freedom of expression, conscience and liberty" by imprisoning male Jehovah's Witnesses for refusing military service, Amnesty International said on Wednesday.

"Young male Jehovah's Witnesses continue to be imprisoned in ever larger numbers and for longer periods because their beliefs prohibit them from performing military service," Laurence Broers, Amnesty International's researcher in Armenia wrote.

"Since there is no genuinely civilian alternative service in Armenia at present, Amnesty International considers them prisoners of conscience and calls for their immediate and unconditional release."

By the last count at the end of September there were 82 Jehovah's Witnesses imprisoned in the former Soviet state for refusing to serve in the army, Amnesty's report said.

The Jehovah's Witness group has spread throughout the former Soviet Union since the 1991 break-up of the USSR but its pacifist beliefs have brought it into conflict with governments whose armies are still based on conscription.

Amnesty's report also alleges other religions discriminate against and attack Jehovah's Witness members. (Writing by James Kilner in Moscow; editing by Sami Aboudi)


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Last updated:Wed Jan 16 00:00:59 2008