Source: www.forum18.org
Date: February 27, 2023
Ivano-Frankivsk Police took 46-year-old Christian conscientious objector
Vitaly Alekseenko into custody on 23 February to begin serving his one-year
jail term for refusing the call-up to the military at a time of war. His
requests to perform an alternative civilian service were ignored and he has
appealed to the Supreme Court. The Defence Ministry insists that
alternative service does not exist during wartime. He is the first
conscientious objector jailed since Russia's renewed 2022 invasion of
Ukraine. Courts have given at least six others suspended prison terms.
UKRAINE: Conscientious objector now jailed
https://www.forum18.org/archiv
By Felix Corley, Forum 18
On 23 February, one day before the first anniversary of Russia's renewed
invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian police in the south-western city of
Ivano-Frankivsk took 46-year-old Christian conscientious objector Vitaly
Alekseenko into custody to begin serving his one-year jail term for
refusing the call-up to the military at a time of war. His requests to
perform an alternative civilian service were ignored. Ukraine's Defence
Ministry insists that alternative service does not exist during wartime.
Alekseenko is the first conscientious objector the Ukrainian authorities
are known to have jailed. Since Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine in
February 2022, courts have given at least six other conscientious objectors
suspended prison terms (see below).
On the morning of 23 February, police took Alekseenko to a clinic for a
medical examination. Officers then took him to Ivano-Frankivsk's
Investigation Prison, Yurii Sheliazhenko, secretary of the Ukrainian
Pacifist Movement, told Forum 18 from the capital Kyiv. "Vitaly told me
that he will read the Gospels and New Testament in prison and will pray for
peace and justice and changes in Ukraine for the better," Sheliazhenko
added (see below).
Alekseenko is likely to be transferred to a prison to serve his sentence,
though Forum 18 has been unable to find out when that will be and where he
will be transferred. Telephones at Ivano-Frankivsk's Investigation Prison
went unanswered on 27 February (see below).
Alekseenko has already lodged a further cassation appeal to the Supreme
Court in Kyiv. The case has been assigned to a panel of judges, but no
dates for any hearings have been set (see below).
An official from the Defence Ministry Personnel Department – who did not
give his name – said that alternative civilian service does not exist in
wartime and that such individuals are dealt with through the courts. Asked
why Alekseenko and other conscientious objectors cannot be sent to work in
hospitals, for example, as they said they were ready for, the official
repeated his answer (see below).
Forum 18 asked Mykhailo Spasov, the official handing the right to freedom
of religion or belief at the office of the Parliamentary Human Rights
Commissioner (Ombudsperson), about the jailing of conscientious objector
Alekseenko and the suspended prison terms handed down to other
conscientious objectors.
Forum 18 also asked Spasov why the Defence Ministry does not respect the
right for men to choose alternative civilian service at a time of war and
why, even in peacetime, the right to choose alternative civilian service is
not available to all men with a conscientious objection to bearing arms and
is only available to men in 10 specified religious communities. Forum 18
received no immediate response (see below).
On 16 January, Ivano-Frankivsk Appeal Court rejected Alekseenko's appeal
against his one-year jail term. The sentence went into force when he
collected the written verdict from the court on 24 January (see below).
"I told the court I agree that I have broken the law of Ukraine,"
Alekseenko told Forum 18 from Ivano-Frankivsk after the appeal hearing,
"but I am not guilty under the law of God. I want to be honest to myself."
He added that had he repented of his "crime", both the lower and the appeal
court would have given him a suspended sentence (see below).
"Conscientious objection to military service is not a crime, it is human
right [see below], and this human right should not be denied even in time
of war," Sheliazhenko added. "In fact, it is especially precious in times
of war and historically emerged exactly because of that, because challenges
of modern militarised economies became unbearable to the conscience of a
growing number of people" (see below).
"Unfortunately, the right to alternative service does not extend to martial
law," Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service for Ethnic Policies and
Freedom of Conscience, told Forum 18. He said he is working to extend the
right for exemption from mobilisation, but "this requires the goodwill of
Parliament" (see below).
Alekseenko, an internally-displaced person from Donetsk Region, was
summoned to the recruitment office in Ivano-Frankivsk in June 2022. He
explained that because of his religious belief he cannot take up arms. He
was refused alternative civilian service and his case was handed to
prosecutors. On 15 September 2022, Ivano-Frankivsk City Court handed down
the one-year jail term (see below).
An official of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Recruitment Office, who refused to
give his name, said he was not familiar with Alekseenko's case. "We're not
competent to answer your questions," the official told Forum 18 in January
2023. "We generally offer alternative service to members of religious
communities." The official refused to say how many men had been able to opt
for alternative civilian service since the February 2022 renewed Russian
invasion of Ukraine (see below).
When Forum 18 asked the official why Alekseenko could not have been
assigned an alternative civilian service in a needed occupation at a time
of war, say at a hospital, the official did not explain why (see below).
Meanwhile, the army has rejected requests by conscientious objector Andrii
Vyshnevetsky to be transferred to an alternative civilian service. The
33-year-old was mobilised in Odessa in September 2022 and is currently
serving in a military kitchen. The Recruitment Office in Odessa refused to
discuss his case (see below).
Prosecutions of other conscientious objectors
In six other criminal cases since February 2022, courts handed
conscientious objectors suspended prison sentences and terms of probation:
- 18 May 2022, Andrii Kucher, Mukachevo, suspended 4-year jail term;
- 21 June 2022, Dmytro Kucherov, Oleksandriia (Kirovohrad Region),
suspended 3-year jail term;
- 17 August 2022, Oleksandr Korobko, Mukachevo, suspended 3-year jail term;
- 22 August 2022, Maryan Kapats, Mukachevo, suspended 3-year jail term;
- 2 December 2022, Andrii Martiniuk, Snyatin (Ivano-Frankivsk Region),
suspended 3-year jail term;
- 3 February 2023, Hennady Tomniuk, Ivano-Frankivsk, suspended 3-year jail
term.
All were convicted under Criminal Code Article 336. This punishes "Refusing
call-up for military service during mobilisation or in a special period,
and for military service during call-up of reservists in a special period".
The verdicts in three of the cases (Kucherov, Martiniuk and Tomniuk) state
that they base their objection to military service on their Christian
faith. The court decisions in the other three cases describe only the
individuals' conscientious objection to killing people.
Since Russia's renewed invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and the
declaration of martial law in Ukraine, Recruitment Offices have summoned
thousands of Jehovah's Witness men. Prosecutors opened criminal cases
against 67 individuals, of which 44 have already been closed
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Three Jehovah's Witness young men are currently on trial under Criminal
Code Article 336. However, the long-running trials do not appear to be
close to a conclusion
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
told Forum 18.
Limited peacetime access to conscientious objection
Under a 10 November 1999 Cabinet of Ministers Decree, only men who belonged
to 10 specified religious communities that the state recognised as pacifist
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
for alternative civilian service. Men who were not members of any of these
10 communities were not eligible to apply for alternative service.
In practice, conscientious objectors to military service have long faced
obstacles to doing alternative civilian service
(https://ebco-beoc.org/ukraine
Committee in its 9 February 2022 Concluding Observations on Ukraine
(CCPR/C/UKR/CO/8
(https://documents-dds-ny.un.o
stressed that "alternatives to military service should be available to all
conscientious objectors without discrimination as to the nature of their
beliefs justifying the objection (be they religious beliefs or
non-religious beliefs grounded in conscience)".
The UN Human Rights Committee's General Comment 22 on Article 18 ("Freedom
of thought, conscience and religion") of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) notes that "this right is non-derogable
even during times of national emergency threatening the life of the nation"
(https://www.quno.org/sites/de
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention stated in 2019
(https://www.quno.org/sites/de
that "the right to conscientious objection to military service is part of
the absolutely protected right to hold a belief under article 18 (1) of the
Covenant, which cannot be restricted by States".
Within Russia in its internationally-recognised boundaries, no legal or
practical provision exists for alternative civilian service during
mobilisation (https://www.forum18.org/archi
the Constitution guaranteeing this right for every citizen.
Russia has within the Ukrainian territories it has illegally occupied since
2014 conscripted men into its armed forces (https://ebco-beoc.org/ukraine
This is a crime under Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of
Civilian Persons in Time of War
(https://www.ohchr.org/en/inst
which covers the rights of civilians in territories occupied by another
state (described as "protected persons"). Article 51 states: "The Occupying
Power may not compel protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary
forces. No pressure or propaganda which aims at securing voluntary
enlistment is permitted."
An 11 May 2022 analytical report (A/HRC/50/43
(https://documents-dds-ny.un.o
by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights notes that OHCHR has
documented that Russia has in the illegally-occupied Ukrainian territory of
Crimea seriously violated international human rights law by conscripting
over 3,000 men into the Russian armed forces.
Alternative civilian service "not applicable" under martial law
Following the renewed Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022,
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree imposing martial law
for 90 days. All men between the ages of 18 and 60 were deemed eligible for
call-up in a general mobilisation and were banned from leaving the country.
The period of martial law has been extended several times.
The Ukrainian Pacifist Movement expressed concern that during martial law
the Defence Ministry might not respect individuals' right to perform an
alternative civilian service if they cannot serve in the armed forces on
grounds of conscience. It wrote to the Defence Ministry on 26 July 2022.
In its 21 August 2022 response
(https://en.connection-ev.org/
Forum 18, Colonel Oleg Khrystenko, Deputy Chief of the Main Personnel
Department of the General Staff, pointed out that under the Alternative
Service Law, men could opt for alternative service "if the performance of
military duty conflicts with their religious beliefs and these citizens
belong to religious organisations operating in accordance with the
legislation of Ukraine, whose creed does not allow the use of weapons".
However, Colonel Khrystenko insisted that because of the Russian invasion
and the declaration of martial law, regular conscription to military
service had been suspended, to be replaced by mobilisation. "Therefore,
based on the above, the implementation of the constitutional right of
citizens to undergo alternative (non‐military) service under the
conditions of the legal regime of martial law and during mobilisation, due
to the absence of conscription for term‐limited military service, is not
applicable."
Colonel Khrystenko added that the Mobilisation Training and Mobilisation
Law "does not provide for alternative (non‐military) service for
conscripts who are called up for military service during mobilisation".
A Defence Ministry official from the Personnel Department said Viktor
Savonik, who prepared the response on behalf of Colonel Khrystenko, had
been transferred to other duties. The official – who did not give his
name – insisted to Forum 18 on 15 February
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
right to alternative civilian service in time of war is in line with the
Constitution. He did not explain.
"Unfortunately, the right to alternative service does not extend to martial
law," Viktor Yelensky, head of the State Service for Ethnic Policies and
Freedom of Conscience, told Forum 18 on 14 February
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
exempt priests who cannot kill according to Canon Law and we are looking
for a way to deal with Christians applying for the alternative (civilian)
service. However, this requires the goodwill of Parliament."
Yelensky - then a member of parliament – was among the co-sponsors of a
draft law submitted in June 2017 which would have made alternative service
easier to access during wartime mobilisation. Ukraine's Permanent Mission
to the United Nations in Geneva told the UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights on 7 December 2018
(https://www.ohchr.org/sites/d
that the draft law "widens possibilities for exercising rights to freedom
of thought, conscience and religion by determining the procedure for
citizens' participation in alternative service during the mobilization and
recruitment of Ukrainian citizens for regular military service in a special
period".
However, parliament never considered the 2017 draft law
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
automatically dropped when elections were called in 2019.
Forum 18 asked Mykhailo Spasov, the official handing the right to freedom
of religion or belief at the office of the Parliamentary Human Rights
Commissioner (Ombudsperson) in Kyiv, in writing on the morning of 27
February 2023 why the Defence Ministry does not respect the right for men
to choose alternative civilian service at a time of war and why, even in
peacetime, the right to choose alternative civilian service is not
available to all men with a conscientious objection to bearing arms and is
only available to men in the 10 specified religious communities. Forum 18
received no immediate response by the end of the working day of 27
February.
Yurii Sheliazhenko of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement argues that
alternative civilian service should be available in wartime also.
"Conscientious objection to military service is not a crime, it is human
right, and this human right should not be denied even in time of war," he
told Forum 18 on 15 February
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
especially precious in times of war and historically emerged exactly
because of that, because challenges of modern militarised economies became
unbearable to the conscience of a growing number of people."
Recruitment Office rejects alternative service request
Vitaly Vasilovich Alekseenko (born 2 December 1976) was living in Slovyansk
in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk Region when Russia began its renewed invasion
of Ukraine in February 2022. In 2017 he was registered with the Ukrainian
Conscription Office in Slovyansk, but was given not a military card.
However, he was given a certificate valid until 2022 confirming that he had
not served in the military in the 1990s in Uzbekistan, where he then lived,
on grounds of conscience.
Alekseenko fled to Ivano-Frankivsk in May 2022. The City Recruitment Office
summoned him on 2 June. He told them that he could not take up arms because
of his religious beliefs as a Christian. "I told them I was ready to do an
alternative service and wrote such a declaration," he told Forum 18. He
also explained that he had refused military service in Uzbekistan on
grounds of conscience.
"They told me that there is no certainty that I'm a believer," Alekseenko
told Forum 18 on 15 December 2022
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
members of registered faiths have the right to do alternative service." He
said he believes in Jesus Christ and his command to resist evil without
violence and be peacemakers as outlined in the Sermon on the Mount. "But I
don't go to any church as they don't observe what Christ said."
The Recruitment Office summoned Alekseenko again on 6 June 2022, telling
him they rejected his application for alternative service. When he refused
to be mobilised, officials called in the police.
An official of the Ivano-Frankivsk City Recruitment Office, who refused to
give his name, said he was not familiar with Alekseenko's case. "We're not
competent to answer your questions," the official told Forum 18 on 17
January 2023 (https://www.forum18.org/archi
generally offer alternative service to members of religious communities."
The official refused to say how many men had been able to opt for
alternative civilian service since the February 2022 renewed Russian
invasion of Ukraine.
When Forum 18 told the official that Alekseenko's objections to serving in
the military are based on his religious beliefs, the official replied: "Let
him come in to us a second time."
When Forum 18 asked the official why Alekseenko could not have been
assigned an alternative civilian service in a needed occupation at a time
of war, say at a hospital, the official did not explain why.
Criminal case, trial, conviction, jail sentence
The investigator launched a criminal case against Alekseenko
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
the Criminal Code. This punishes "Refusing call-up for military service
during mobilisation or in a special period, and for military service during
call-up of reservists in a special period". Punishment is a jail term of
three to five years.
On the investigator's advice, Alekseenko pleaded guilty, but refused to
repent of his actions "because he is convinced that he behaved decently as
a Christian, followed the imperative of his conscience and did nothing
wrong", the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement said in a 9 November 2022 letter to
the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine.
At his criminal trial at Ivano-Frankivsk City Court on 15 September 2022,
Judge Roman Khorostil found Alekseenko guilty
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Article 336. The decision - seen by Forum 18 - notes that Prosecutor Olga
Gazukina, who led the prosecution case in court, called for a three-year
suspended jail term.
However, Judge Khoristil ignored the Prosecutor's request and decided to
jail Alekseenko. He noted the pre-trial report that said that Alekseenko
did not represent a danger to society and reduced his sentence to a
one-year jail term. The verdict says that the term begins when Alekseenko
is actually detained.
Alekseenko appealed to Ivano-Frankivsk Appeal Court, which finally heard
the case on 16 January 2023. Volodymyr Povzlo was the Presiding Judge,
accompanied by Bogdan Kukurudz and Oleksandr Vasilev. The hearing was open,
Alekseenko told Forum 18, and friends attended the hearing in his support.
"I told the court I agree that I have broken the law of Ukraine,"
Alekseenko told Forum 18 in January
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
under the law of God. I want to be honest to myself." He added that had he
repented of his "crime", both the lower and the appeal court would have
given him a suspended sentence. "How could I do that when I am not guilty?"
Jailed
Alekseenko collected the written appeal verdict – seen by Forum 18 - from
Ivano-Frankivsk Appeal Court on 24 January. The verdict then entered legal
force.
A police officer finally phoned Alekseenko on 13 February. She told him "to
be ready to be taken to prison" at 9am on 20 February to begin his one-year
jail term. "It was not my decision," the police officer tasked with taking
him to prison told Forum 18 from Ivano-Frankivsk on 14 February
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
the decision to take him to prison. It's my job to carry this out."
The police officer refused to say why Alekseenko is being jailed for
refusing on grounds of conscience a military call-up when he has said he is
ready to perform an alternative civilian service. "It's not for me to
comment on that," she told Forum 18. Police did not come as expected on 20
February.
An official from the Defence Ministry Personnel Department – who did not
give his name – told Forum 18 on 15 February
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
civilian service does not exist in wartime and that such individuals are
dealt with through the courts. Asked why Alekseenko and other conscientious
objectors cannot be sent to work in hospitals, for example, as they said
they were ready for, the official repeated his answer. He then put the
phone down.
Police finally took Alekseenko into custody on 23 February. That morning,
officers took him to a clinic for a medical examination before taking him
on to Ivano-Frankivsk's Investigation Prison, Yurii Sheliazhenko of the
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement told Forum 18 from Kyiv.
"Vitaly told me that he will read the Gospels and New Testament in prison
and will pray for peace and justice and changes in Ukraine for the better,"
Sheliazhenko added.
Alekseenko is likely to be transferred to a prison to serve his sentence,
though Forum 18 has been unable to find out when that will be and where he
will be transferred. Telephones at Ivano-Frankivsk's Investigation Prison
went unanswered each time Forum 18 called on 27 February.
Forum 18 asked Mykhailo Spasov, the official handing the right to freedom
of religion or belief at the office of the Parliamentary Human Rights
Commissioner (Ombudsperson) in Kyiv, in writing on the morning of 27
February about the jailing of conscientious objector Alekseenko. Forum 18
received no immediate response by the end of the working day of 27
February.
Those already convicted and whose sentences have come into force are likely
to be held in an Investigation Prison only for a short time before being
transferred to a prison to serve their sentences, usually in a location
near their home, says Andriy Didenko of the Kharkiv Human Rights Protection
Group.
Didenko was among human rights defenders and officials to inspect
Ivano-Frankivsk's Investigation Prison, most recently on 12 February.
"Conditions of detention could be better," he told Forum 18 from Kyiv on 27
February. "It is crowded and with a lack of space and air for each
prisoner. But compared with other prisons it is more or less OK and the
management is reasonable."
Cassation appeal to the Supreme Court
Alekseenko lodged a further cassation appeal to the Supreme Court in Kyiv,
which registered the case on 21 February. The Supreme Court's Criminal
Division assigned the case to a panel of three judges: Vyacheslav Nastavny,
Serhy Slynko and Svitlana Yakovleva, according to court records. No dates
for any hearings have been set.
"In his appeal, Vitaly asked the Supreme Court to suspend the execution of
the sentence while the cassation appeal is being considered," Sheliazhenko
told Forum 18. "I hope there is a non-zero chance that the Supreme Court
will grant this."
Conscientious objector mobilised, denied transfer to alternative civilian
service
Andrii Vyshnevetsky – who is now 33 years old - lived with his wife and
daughter in Kherson before Russia's February 2022 invasion. Military
officials located him on the street in Odessa and ordered him to attend the
city's Suvorov Territorial Recruitment Office on 14 September 2022,
according to the order seen by Forum 18. Officials there rejected his
request to perform an alternative civilian service on grounds of conscience
and mobilised him into the army.
The official who answered the phone at Suvorov Territorial Recruitment
Office – who did not give his name – refused to discuss Vyshnevetsky's
case. "We don't give any information by phone," he told Forum 18 on 15
February 2023.
After training Vyshnevetsky as a military driver, the army sent him in
November 2022 to the frontline in the eastern Donetsk Region. He was later
transferred to Mykolaiv Region and was assigned work in the kitchen.
Commanders have so far ignored his request to be transferred to alternative
civilian service.
Vyshnevetsky explained his conscientious objection to Sheliazhenko of the
Ukrainian Pacifist Movement. "I don't understand church terminology, I just
believe," he told him on 2 January. "I am a Christian and a pacifist, I
believe in God and I pray to God. I read the Bible, I downloaded it to my
smartphone. Every day I pray for peace in the whole world."
Vyshnevetsky added: "I cannot kill people because of the irresistible
command of conscience and the fear of God, because in the Holy Bible the
commandment says 'Thou shalt not kill!' and it is also said that one must
fear God and obey the commandments. How can you kill a person, how can you
live with it? I can't do it."
"In the army, they laugh at me, they say that there is a choice, shoot or
go to prison," Vyshnevetsky told Sheliazhenko. "I want to do alternative
service, I don't want to be in the military. I am against war, against
violence, against murder. I don't want to hold a weapon in my hands." He
said he would be ready to do an alternative service, such as with the Red
Cross.
Severe human rights violations in Russian-occupied Ukraine
Serious violations of freedom of religion and belief and other human rights
take place within all the Ukrainian territory Russia has illegally occupied
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
Within the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
imposition of Russian laws and restrictions on exercising human rights,
including freedom of religion or belief; jailing Muslim and Jehovah's
Witness Crimean prisoners of conscience; forcible closure of places of
worship; and fining people for leading meetings for worship without Russian
state permission.
Within the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Luhansk these have up to
the renewed 2022 invasion of Ukraine
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
illegal all Protestant and non-Moscow Patriarchate Orthodox communities; a
climate of fear about discussing human rights violations; repeated denials
of permission to a Roman Catholic priest to live in the region; and
increasing numbers of banned allegedly "extremist" books, including an
edition of the Gospel of John published in 1820. (END)
Full reports on freedom of thought, conscience and belief in
Russian-occupied Ukraine
(https://www.forum18.org/archi
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