E/CN.4/2006/5/Add.1 Page 5 and held good relations with the general staff. Their living conditions were normal, their accommodation comfortable and their food requirements were met. 9. Towards the end of March and the beginning of April the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ attitude suddenly changed and they abandoned their service. Because the Government officials could not find a due cause for them to leave, the Jehovah’s Witnesses must bear responsibility for the abandonment of service under the existing Alternative Service Act. Observations 10. The Special Rapporteur is grateful for the Government’s response. She would like to draw the Government’s attention to Paragraph 5 of Resolution 1998/77 of the Commission on Human Rights, which emphasizes that States should take the necessary measures to refrain from subjecting conscientious objectors to imprisonment. 11. Moreover, she notes that the Human Rights Committee has encouraged States to ensure that the length of alternative service does not have a punitive character, in comparison to the duration of regular military service. (See inter alia CCPR/CO/83/GRC, paragraph 15). Noting Armenia’s commitment regarding alternative service further to its accession to the Council of Europe, she encourages the Government to initiate a review the law from the perspective of its compliance with international standards and best practices. Azerbaijan Communication sent on 17 March 2005 12. The Special Rapporteur brought to the attention of the Government information she had received according to which, on 4 February 2005, the Supreme Court failed to protect the right of Mr. Mahir Bagirov to perform alternative service despite a provision in the constitution guaranteeing this right for those unable to serve in the army on grounds of conscience. Mr. Bagirov is a Jehovah's Witness on whose behalf a communication was sent on 27 October 2004 (See E/CN.4/2005/61/Add.1 at par. 18). The court reportedly argued that the lack of a law on alternative service meant that this right did not exist. Fears had been expressed that Mr. Bagirov would soon be arrested by the military police and brought to a military barracks where, as an alleged deserter, he could be at risk of being subjected to brutal treatment. Concerns had been expressed that Azerbaijan's army was not yet ready to allow young men to do alternative service. 13. The Special Rapporteur was also informed that Azerbaijan's senior religious affairs official in February 2005 had expressed accusations against the Protestant church in the local media. Rafik Aliev, head of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations, has accused the Seventh-day Adventist and Greater Grace Protestant churches of working illegally and threatened they could be shut down. In the latest of numerous unfounded allegations that Mr. Aliev has made in local media, he accused the Adventist and Greater Grace Protestant churches of, inter alia, conducting "illegal religious propaganda" and of disturbing "citizens residing near