Prosecution 

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Ukraine: About new 300 criminal cases against conscientious objectors

(30.10.2024) The number of new criminal cases against conscientious objectors has surged since summer 2024 after the General Prosecutor’s Office wrote to local prosecutors. About 300 conscientious objectors now face criminal investigations which could lead – if cases reach court and end in convictions – to a 3 to 5 year jail term. Of the 89 cases related to 86 individuals that have already reached trial (listed in this article), courts handed down 9 jail terms (only one conscientious objector is currently in jail), with 11 suspended sentences. Trials in 66 of the 89 known cases that have reached trial are ongoing.

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Ukraine: Recruitment offices, military detain, pressure and torture conscientious objectors

(18.10.2024) On 11 June, Recruitment Office officials tortured Adventist conscientious objector Pavlo Halagan to pressure him to accept mobilisation. "They tied me to the bed with chains and began to physically torture, punch and beat me," he complained. On 1 July, at a military camp, "one commander grabbed me by the neck", Baptist conscientious objector Kiril Berestovoi complained. "He hit me on the head, beat me around the heart." The torture lasted half an hour. Officials use psychological pressure, detention (sometimes for several months), deprivation of food, threats, and beatings.

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Şendoğan Yazıcı, Photo: Gazete Duvar

Turkey: Conscientious objector faces vicious cycle of investigations

(17.10.2024) Conscientious objector Şendoğan Yazıcı has been battling a vicious cycle of criminal investigations and lawsuits since making his declaration in 2010. The activist told Gazete Duvar that the state traps objectors in social and legal "limbo."

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Davit Nazaretyan

Armenia: Conscientious objector begins two-year jail term

(20.08.2024) On 20 August, Yerevan police took 21-year-old Baptist conscientious objector Davit Nazaretyan to the city’s Nubarashen Prison to begin his two-year jail term for refusing military service on grounds of conscience. Nina Karapetyants of the Helsinki Association for Human Rights described Nubarashen as "the worst prison" in Armenia. "There are no proper conditions for exercise or for taking a shower." The office of Human Rights Defender Anahit Manasyan did not respond to questions on what it might do to defend Nazaretyan’s rights.

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