The President of the internationally unrecognised entity of Nagorno-Karabakh, Bako Sahakyan, has signed a repressive new Religion Law.It comes into force ten days after its official publication, which is expected to be after the current Christmas holidays.
No officials were available to discuss the new Law, because of public holidays for Christmas which the Armenian Apostolic Church celebrates on 6 January 2009.
The main restrictions in the new Law are: an apparent ban on unregistered religious activity; highly restrictive requirements to gain legal recognition; state censorship of religious literature; an undefined "monopoly" given to the Armenian Apostolic Church over preaching and spreading its faith while restricting other faiths to similarly undefined "rallying their own faithful".
Many articles of the Law are formulated in a way that lacks clarity, making the intended implementation of the Law uncertain.
The Law also does not resolve the issue of conscientious objection to military service.
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(Source: CN)