WikiLeaks – Armenia No 7
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 002995
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPT FOR EUR/CACEN; DRL
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PREL AM
SUBJECT: NEW LAW ON DRAFT EVADERS: AMNESTY THROUGH INSTITUTIONALIZED EXTORTION
¶1. (U) Sensitive But Unclassified. Please protect accordingly.
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SUMMARY
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¶2. (SBU) The Armenian National Assembly (NA) unanimously passed a bill on “Citizens Who Evaded Compulsory Military Service” in its second reading December 1. The measure allows citizens over the age of 27 who evaded the draft to avoid retroactive criminal prosecution by paying a fine. Parliamentarians claim the measure is an inducement to Armenians living overseas to return home. Some Armenians contend that the bill only formalizes a system of corruption, by requiring payment to avoid criminal proceedings for a previously unprosecuted crime. End Summary.
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DRAFT LAW PASSES UNANIMOUSLY
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¶3. (U) The Armenian National Assembly unanimously passed the law, “Citizens Who Evaded Compulsory Military Service with Violation of the Established Order” in its second reading December 1. The bill is on the NA’s agenda for its extraordinary December session, and should pass its third and final reading without amendment. The law, strongly endorsed by both government and opposition lawmakers, provides an amnesty for male citizens over the age of 27 (or who have otherwise become ineligible for the draft) who avoided compulsory military service by paying a fee of 100,000 drams (USD 175) for each of the semi-annual draft rounds they evaded. (NOTE: Men are required to serve in the military for two years when they reach the age of 18. Men are excluded from the draft while pursuing undergraduate degrees, defending a doctoral thesis, or if they have two or more children. END NOTE.)
Upon payment of the fine (up to USD 3,500 if they had been eligible for the full ten years), men would be enlisted in the military reserve forces and receive an official document from the Ministry of Justice indicating that they were free from criminal prosecution for draft evasion.
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AMNESTY MEANT TO ATTRACT ARMENIANS LIVING ABROAD
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¶4. (SBU) Vahagn Gevorkian, aide to the NA’s Standing Committee on Defense and one of the primary drafters of the bill, told us that the government is currently seeking approximately 16,000 individuals for draft evasion. Gevorkian and other supporters of the bill estimate that most of these men are currently abroad, having left the country in the 1990s in part to avoid military service during the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
According to Gevorkian, fear of prosecution has kept many of these men from returning to Armenia, where the skills they have learned abroad could be put to good use. Amnesty could both provide the government with added revenue and add well-trained individuals to the workforce.
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NO NEED TO SERVE IF YOU CAN PAY
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¶5. (SBU) Armenians have anecdotally informed us that they know of numerous men, both family and friends, who avoided military service by bribing authorities. No one knows of a single individual who has faced legal sanction after the age of 27 for failure to serve in the military. (NOTE: The Ministry of Justice does not provide information on the number of individuals it prosecutes for draft evasion. END NOTE.)
Men with the necessary connections and financial means will pay both local police officials to have their names stricken from the list of draft evaders, and the Ministry of Defense to secure demobilizion documents. Those who are abroad and wish to return to Armenia currently have to coordinate a similar process with family and friends so they can enter the country without hindrance. Armenians tell us that men can expect pay between USD 5,000 and USD 10,000 to secure the necessary documents.
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COMMENT: TURNING BRIBES INTO REVENUE
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¶6. (SBU) The law on draft evaders will regularize the current process by which men can pay to avoid their required military service. By formally embracing the practice, the government raises its own revenue by taking control of payments that had previously been lining the pockets of corrupt officials. The NA hopes to entice Armenians abroad to return by lowering the market price of the demobilization documents, and giving the security of a formal amnesty that could never be provided by the black market.
ORDWAY
