JW LEAKS has published the November 27, 2012, judgment from the European Court of Human Rights in:
Khachatryan and Others (Jehovah’s Witnesses) v. Armenia
Application no. 23978/06
EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Khachatryan and Others (Jehovah’s Witnesses) v. Armenia
Application no. 23978/06
The applicants are 19 Armenian nationals who are Jehovah’s Witnesses. Having applied to the authorities to perform alternative labour service instead of military service on religious grounds under the 2004 Alternative Service Act, they were each assigned to perform the service in various institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes and dispensaries. In May and June 2005, they respectively informed those institutions that, since the alternative service was under the control of the military, they could not continue to serve in good conscience, and subsequently left their places of service.
Placed in detention for several months following criminal proceedings brought against them for abandoning their service institutions – which had eventually been discontinued – 17 of the applicants complained that they had been detained for an act which had not constituted an offence at the time, in breach of Article 5 § 1 (right to liberty and security) of the European Convention on Human Rights. Further relying in particular on Article 5 § 5 (right to compensation for unlawful detention) they complained that they had been denied compensation for their unlawful detention.
The full 30 page judgment can be downloaded from JW Leaks.
JW LEAKS
