Believers Against Conscription: Why Religious Beliefs Do Not Protect from Mobilization

15 January 12:55

At the beginning of the new year, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights condemned Kyiv’s position because of the lack of a mechanism for conscientious objection, which is enshrined in the Constitution of Ukraine and international agreements. The reason for this was the numerous cases of conscription of church members whose faith prohibits them from taking up arms. Today, those believers who refuse to serve in the Armed Forces are imprisoned.

Those who do not join the army go to prison

In just three months of the fall, UN human rights activists have documented that at least five men have been drafted for military service and transferred to training centers after attempting to exercise their right to conscientious objection.

“In all cases, the men were arbitrarily detained for two to four days by conscription officers and subjected to ill-treatment or torture. They were threatened with violence and ‘sending them to the front line’, and four of them were beaten, strangled and dragged on the floor,”

– the document says.

One of the parishioners of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who refused to serve, was told by an employee of the draft board:

“We have to cut off your genitals so that cowards like you cannot reproduce!”

And that’s not all, because for refusing to serve in the Armed Forces, believers face a trial and a sentence with a real prison term. Last summer, a court in the Kyiv region sentenced a member of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses to three years in prison for failing to report to the military commissariat after receiving a call-up because of his religious beliefs. The judge ruled that the man was evading mobilization, as the possibility of replacing military service with an alternative during mobilization is not provided for by law, and sentenced him to a term of imprisonment for evading mobilization.

In Poltava region, a parishioner of the Seventh-day Adventist Church was sentenced to three years in prison for failing to report to the military commission. In Sumy region, a priest of the Church of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a former officer of the Armed Forces, was sentenced to three years in prison for evading mobilization. In court, the defendant stated that he could not take up arms, and he was not offered alternative service. After all, the Constitution of Ukraine allows for non-military service for citizens whose religious beliefs prohibit them from holding weapons.

Each of the convicts appealed the verdict in higher courts until the Supreme Court put an end to it. The Supreme Court ruled that “no religious beliefs can be a ground for evading mobilization of a citizen of Ukraine, who is recognized as fit for military service, in order to fulfill his constitutional duty to protect the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the state from military aggression by a foreign state.”

He added that being called up for military service under mobilization did not automatically mean that the believer was obliged to take up arms. Given his religious beliefs and constitutional duty to defend the homeland, during his service he could be involved in repairing equipment, building fortifications, evacuating the wounded, transporting goods, and performing other functions not related to the use of weapons.

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There is no alternative service

The main problem is that such believers are not offered alternative, non-military service, and there are no special conditions for them during wartime. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets drew attention to this. He called on the Verkhovna Rada to adopt a law that would grant the right to alternative service to persons who refuse to participate in hostilities because of their religious beliefs during martial law.

In fact, since the summer of 2023, the Verkhovna Rada has been trying (unsuccessfully) to exempt those who do not want to fight from mobilization. MP Heorhii Mazurashu of the Servant of the People party proposed in draft law No. 9566 to provide an opportunity to officially refuse mobilization on the basis of personal or religious beliefs and to engage such persons in public works of a defense nature.

Later, draft law No. 11439 appeared, which proposed

“ensuring the constitutional right of citizens to alternative (non-military) service, avoiding unnecessary problems in the Defense Forces through the mobilization of citizens who are not ready (at least morally) to serve/war”.

It clearly stated that citizens of Ukraine who confirm in writing that the performance of military duty contradicts their religious beliefs should perform alternative (non-military) service. However, the case never came to trial.

Lawyers note that it is impossible to replace military service with alternative service during martial law. It was only possible instead of regular military service to fulfill a duty to society, as stated in the Law “On Alternative (Non-military) Service”. Article 23 of the Law “On Mobilization Preparation and Mobilization” says nothing about this.

There is a way out for believers:

Write an application to the CCC with a request to provide alternative service in units, for example, as a driver, engineer, etc.
Attach a document confirming the “truth of beliefs”: a certificate from your religious community from the list of registered organizations that prohibit the use of weapons, as well as a certificate of regular attendance at church services.