Armenia to pay compensation to two Jehovah's Witnesses by ECtHR's decision

The Armenian government will allocate 20,000 euros to the Ministry of Justice for payment of compensation to two members of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses, stipulated by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

The ECtHR obliged Armenia to pay 10,000 euros for each case of "Bukharatyan versus Armenia" and "Tsaturyan versus Armenia".

In April 2003, Aik Bukharatyan and Ashot Tsaturyan, residents of Yerevan, were sentenced to 2 years of imprisonment for their refusing to serve in the army on religious grounds. They filed complaints to the European Court and, on January 10, 2012, the ECtHR granted both complaints and obliged Armenia to pay each of the complainants the amounts of 6000 euros for moral damages and 4000 euros for legal costs.

The issue of allocating compensation was included in the agenda of the government meeting and discussed today, the "News.am" reports.

Grair Tovmasyan, Acting Minister of Justice of Armenia, told journalists that the Ministry of Justice created a working group to study the ECtHR's verdicts.

"A lot of members of the religious organization of Jehovah's Witnesses have submitted complaints to the ECtHR against Armenia. At present, several Jehovah's Witnesses still continue to serve their sentences in penitentiary institutions of the country," the "News-Armenia" quotes Grair Tovmasyan as saying.

According to information of Jehovah's Witnesses themselves, at present, 52 members of the religious organization are kept in prisons for their refusing to serve in the army. The information is presented on the website of the organization with a list of names of the convicted persons.