The long-delayed registration of the Jehovah’s Witnesses as a legal religious organisation has fulfilled one of Armenia’s international obligations, but has met bitter hostility from many individuals and church leaders. After nine years and 14 applications, the western church finally received legal status on October 12, in a country where the three-million-strong population belongs overwhelmingly to the Armenian Apostolic Church.
Zhanna Alexanian is a reporter with the Armenianow.com weekly.
This article was first published on 28 October 2004 (CRS No. 259) by the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR), London. Posted on Religioscope with permission.
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