Baptist who has served 2 years demobilized from army in Nagorno-Karabakh

Baptist Gagik Davidovich Mirzoyan, who refused to take the oath, has been demobilized from the Karabakh army after serving his term. He received his military ID with a blank in the column "Oath".

On September 5, 2005, soldier Gagik Davidovich Mirzoyan, a native of Chailu village of the Martakert District, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), born in 1986, after 9 months of his service in the NKR's Defence Army, was convicted, for refusal to take the military oath, under Article 364, part 1, of the NKR's Criminal Code, to 1 year of imprisonment.

Gagik Mirzoyan, a member of the religious organization "Evangelical Christians-Baptists", justified his actions by the argument that the Bible forbids to swear.

In this context, the Karabakh public organization "Centre of Civil Initiatives" addressed President of the NKR with a demand to exhibit indulgence to Gagik Mirzoyan, and "with account of his sincere readiness to serve in the army exempt him in future from criminal liability and give him a chance to continue his service. Mirzoyan was released and returned to take his service in the army."

The US Department of State has included a chapter on Karabakh into their annual report on the freedom of religion. Apart from the above case, the Department's report states that Areg Ovanisyan, a member of the religious organization "Jehovah's Witnesses", who had refused to go to military service because of his belief and sentenced in 2005 to 4 years of imprisonment, is still behind the bars.

Earlier, representatives of the "Jehovah's Witnesses" and human rights activists expressed their concern with the absence of alternative non-military service in Nagorno-Karabakh, which could be an alternative for members of religious organizations.