"Two Ukrainian conscientious objectors who refused the country’s mandatory mobilization during the war with Russia have been sentenced to three-year jail terms, according to a report in the Eurasia Review. Serhy Stadnitsky, a Protestant, and the other man, an unnamed Jehovah’s Witness, have appealed their convictions on religious grounds.
The Ukrainian constitution and the United Nations Human Rights Committee call for non-military alternatives for those who object to military service on religious bases, but Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has argued that during wartime, the limited alternative services provided during peacetime do not exist.
Baptist conscientious objectors Ernest Pavlenko and Ilya Nikolenko were forcibly taken to a military unit in Zhytomyr Region. “Appropriate measures will be taken against them,” an official of the regional department of the Military Law-Enforcement Service told Forum 18. “Whether they will face criminal prosecution depends on how they behave.” Asked why they cannot be released and allowed to do an alternative civilian service as they have requested, the official responded: “Because there’s a war”.
On the morning of 30 April, Forum 18 asked Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service for Ethnic Policy and Freedom of Conscience:
– why jail terms and trials continue for those who cannot serve in the military on grounds of conscience and who have expressed willingness to perform alternative civilian service;
– and what progress there has been on introducing an alternative civilian service where individuals can, for example, work in a hospital."
EurasiaNews
