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, said 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.
Alekseenko is likely to be transferred to a prison to serve his
sentence. Telephones at Ivano-Frankivsk's
Investigation Prison went unanswered on 27 February.
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.
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.
It was asked of 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. No reply.
It was further asked of 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. No reply.
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".
"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, replied. He said he is working
to extend the right for exemption from mobilisation, but "this requires
the goodwill of Parliament".
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.
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 said 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.
When the official was asked 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.
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.
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.
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, Jehovah's Witnesses said.