Covering events from January - December 2003



In line with its human rights commitments to the Council of Europe, Armenia
abolished capital punishment in peacetime. However, it failed to meet its
commitments to the Council of Europe on conscientious objectors to compulsory
military service, who continued to be imprisoned. The authorities detained
hundreds of protesters who took part in peaceful opposition rallies to contest
the outcome of the presidential elections.



Background



In March incumbent President Kocharian won presidential elections that were
marred by widespread voting irregularities, including ballot box stuffing, and
intimidation and violence towards independent and opposition election monitors.
Mass opposition rallies protested at illegal election practices. Following
international criticism, the President acknowledged that the elections had not
met international standards and set up a commission of inquiry to investigate
reported irregularities. Nevertheless, parliamentary elections in May were
likewise flawed by reported ballot box stuffing and intimidation of
international observers. Parties that supported the President won a large
majority in parliament.



Administrative arrests



Some 100 protesters who participated in peaceful demonstrations after the
presidential elections were reportedly sentenced to short prison terms after
being convicted of disrupting public order. Reportedly denied access to lawyers,
they were sentenced in closed trials without legal representation. In April the
Armenian Constitutional Court declared the arrests unlawful.

• Prisoner of conscience Artur Sakunts, Chairman of the Vanadzor branch of
  the Helsinki Citizens Assembly (HCA), was released from prison on 25 March
  after serving a 10-day sentence. He was arrested after he attempted to
  organize a public meeting on 15 March on the findings of HCA election
  monitoring. He was tried the same day and convicted of "disobeying the
  authorities" (Article 182 of the Armenian Administrative Code). He was not
  permitted access to a lawyer before or during his trial. His arrest and the
  firebombing of the Vanadzor HCA office in the early hours of 14 March raised
  fears of a campaign to prevent the HCA from carrying out legitimate human
  rights work.

Unfair trial concerns



In December Nairi Unanyan and five co-accused were sentenced to life
imprisonment by a court in Yerevan for their part in the October 1999 attack on
the Armenian parliament in which eight deputies and government officials,
including Prime Minister Vazgen Sarkisian and parliamentary Speaker Karen
Demirchian, were killed. There were concerns about the fairness of the trial and
the widespread support for imposing the death penalty in the case.



Proceedings in the case had been accompanied since the 1999 arrests by concerns
about due process and the detention conditions of those detained in connection
with the arrests. These included allegations of torture and ill-treatment,
difficulties in access to defence lawyers, lack of access to families, and
denial of access to independent medical practitioners. Widespread public and
political support for the death penalty in this case had led to the Council of
Europe warning Armenia that it would face suspension from the organization if
any of the defendants were executed.



Death penalty



In May parliament adopted a new criminal code, which abolished the death penalty
in peacetime but contained a provision that could have allowed use of the death
penalty in the parliamentary shootings trial. In July President Kocharian
commuted all outstanding death sentences to life in prison.



In September the newly elected parliament voted to abolish the death penalty in
peacetime and to ratify Protocol No. 6 to the European Convention on Human
Rights, one of the commitments Armenia undertook when it joined the Council of
Europe in 2001. However, in November deputies voted unanimously to amend the new
criminal code to deny the right of parole to prisoners serving life sentences
for grave crimes including murder and assassination of a state or public figure.
It was widely believed that the amendment was intended to ensure that those
convicted in the parliamentary shootings case were never released.



Conscientious objection



Parliament adopted a law in December that provided for unarmed military service
of three years or alternative civilian service under the Ministry of Defence for
three and a half years – almost double the length of ordinary military service.



Conscientious objectors continued to be sentenced to prison terms despite
Council of Europe requirements that all those imprisoned for conscientious
objection should be freed. By December, prison sentences of between one and two
years had been imposed on at least 27 men, all Jehovah's Witnesses, for
conscientious objection. Five more had been arrested and were awaiting trial. A
further two had been released on parole.