In the previous couple of months, the variety of prison proceedings in opposition to spiritual conscientious objectors has immediately dramatically elevated in Ukraine, primarily affecting the members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ neighborhood and even their spiritual ministers. The convictions are extreme: imprisonment for a time period of three years.
As of late October, police and prosecutors had been investigating about 300 prison circumstances in opposition to conscientious objectors (over 280 had been Jehovah’s Witnesses), in response to Forum18. Some others had been Adventists, Baptists, Pentecostals and non-believers.
This case is the consequence of a choice of the Supreme Court docket which clearly confirmed on 13 June 2024 the suspension of the precise to conscientious objection and to another civilian service in the course of the conflict with Russia, in a case opposing the Adventist Dmytro Zelinsky to the Ukrainian state.
Quote from the choice of the Supreme Court docket:
“In accordance with Artwork. 17 of the Legislation of Ukraine of 06.12.1991 № 1932-XII ‘On Protection of Ukraine’ safety of the Fatherland, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine is a constitutional responsibility of the residents of Ukraine. Male residents of Ukraine, eligible for navy service for well being and age, and feminine residents, additionally with acceptable skilled coaching, should carry out navy service in accordance with the legislation.
Thus, no spiritual beliefs could be the premise for evading a citizen of Ukraine, acknowledged as match for navy service, from mobilization with a view to fulfill his constitutional responsibility to guard the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state from navy aggression by a international nation.”
Dmytro Zelinsky appealed to the Constitutional Court docket and on 24 September 2024, proceedings had been opened about his grievance. A solution is just not anticipated till a number of months.
Constitutional and authorized framework
The Structure of Ukraine (Article 35) enshrines the precise to freedom of faith and worldview. Whereas granting freedom to profess any faith or to not profess any, to freely carry out spiritual and ritual rites individually or collectively, to conduct spiritual actions, the Structure states that nobody could be relieved of his duties to the state or refuse to adjust to the legal guidelines on the grounds of spiritual beliefs. Whether it is opposite to the spiritual beliefs of the citizen, the achievement of this responsibility have to be changed by another (non-military) service.
The laws of Ukraine protects the precise of its residents to conscientious objection to navy service, however solely for ten classes of spiritual associations:
Reformed Adventists
Seventh-day Adventists
Evangelical Christians
Evangelical Christian Baptists
Pokutniki (stemming from the Uniate Church within the mid-Nineteen Nineties)
Jehovah’s Witnesses
Charismatic Christian Church buildings (and comparable Church buildings in response to the registered statutes)
Christians of the Evangelical Religion (and comparable Church buildings in response to the registered statutes)
Christians of the Evangelical Religion
Society for Kṛiṣhṇa Consciousness.
Believers of different religions and followers of non-religious worldviews (atheists, agnostics…) are usually not eligible for the standing of conscientious objection.
Noteworthy can also be that whereas Adventists can settle for another civilian service beneath navy supervision, Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse any type of various service beneath the authority of the military.
The precise legislation of Ukraine “On Various (Non-Army) Service” gives for the potential for changing solely fixed-term navy service with various (non-military) service, i.e. solely navy service that’s legitimate in peacetime.
Fastened-term navy service was abolished with Russia’s invasion of the territory of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Ukraine declared a state of martial legislation and basic mobilization was rapidly launched by presidential decree. All males between the ages of 18 and 60 had been deemed eligible for call-up in a basic mobilisation and had been banned from leaving the nation.
The legislation doesn’t present for the likelihood and a process for changing navy service with various (non-military) service throughout navy conscription (mobilization). The choices of the courts coping with conscientious objectors on this context had been first unsure.
Variety of arrests on the rise
From February 2022 to July 2024 (28 months), the variety of sentences in prison circumstances issued in opposition to Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to be mobilized attributable to their spiritual beliefs was solely 4 circumstances. Within the interval from July to November 2024 (5 months), their quantity escalated to 14 circumstances.
It have to be pressured that there are about 100,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses in Ukraine and 1000’s of them have the age to be mobilized. It implies that the issue may rapidly develop into daunting with an enormous variety of convictions to jail phrases. Within the meantime, their solely possibility might be to enter hiding, to stay at a spot totally different from their official tackle, to decide on self-confinement, to cease working outdoors or to watch out on their solution to their office, to keep away from public transport, practice and bus stations, public occasions…
See latest documented circumstances on the web site of Human Rights With out Frontiers
