Recent CO Action alerts

Turkish conscientious objector Osman Murat
Ülke, who spent 2 1/2 years in prison from October 1996 until March
1999, and who won his case at the European Court of Human Rights in
2006, received a new order from the military prosecutors office of
Eskisehir informing him that he is expected to present himself within
10 days of issue of that notice to the prosecutor in order to serve a
sentence of 17 months and 15 days in respect of earlier convictions for
refusing to undertake military service.

German total objector Alexander Hense has been arrested last weekend, and has been sentenced to a first military arrest of 7 days on 9 July.

Alexander Hense had been called-up for 2 July, but did not report to his military unit. On Saturday, 7 July, military police arrested him at 23.30hrs at his parents home near Karlsruhe. The next morning he was sent to "his" military unit in Bad Frankenhausen, and was immediately detained. On 9 July, he was given his first arrest of 7 days.

German total objector Jonas Grote (DE14923) was given a second
arrest of 21 days yesterday afternoon. Jonas Grote, who refuses
military and substitute service for reasons of conscience, already
spent 21 days in military arrest from 23 May until 12 June (see
co-alert, 1
June 2007).

War Resisters' International received information today that
Colombian conscientious objector Carlos Andrés
Giraldo Hincapié (COL14911), who has been serving his military
service against his will for more than 10 months now, is being
threatened and verbally abused in the military.

War Resisters' International was informed today that Colombian
conscientious objector Frank Yair Estrada Marin (COL14922) has been
illegally recruited on 5 May 2007, and is presently being held in the
Batallon Pedro Justo Berrio in Medellin.

Since 23 May 2007, German total objector Jonas Grote (DE14923) is in military arrest at the Otto-Lilienthal barracks in Roth. Jonas Grote had been called up for military service for 1 April 2007, but as a total objector he refuses both, military and substitute civilian service. On 15 May - International Conscientious Objectors' Day - Jonas Grote presented himself during a nonviolent action at military barracks in Karlsruhe. From there he was taken to Roth, where he refused to perform military service.

More than one month after his illegal recruitment, Colombian
conscientious objector Frank Yair Estrada Marin is still in the hands
of the military. On the morning of 5 May, Frank Yair Estrada Marin was
taken by soldiers from the Batallon Pedro Justo Berrio to the batallon,
under the pretext that they needed to perform a medical examination to
verify his ability to perform military service.

Today, the Corlu military court
sentenced conscientious objector Halil Savda to a further six months
imprisonment, bringing his total prison time up to 21.5 months. Already
on 15 March 2007, Halil Savda had been sentenced to 15 months
imprisonment on charges of desertion and disobeying orders ? by the
same court that now sentenced him again for disobeying orders.

Turkish/Kurdish conscientious objector Halil Savda has been severely
punished for his declared conscientious objection on 15 March 2007,
when he has been sentenced to 15 ½ months imprisonment on charges of
desertion and disobeying orders – by the same court that is now to try
him again for disobeying orders. He is likely to be sentenced to a
further six months of imprisonment at the next trial session on 12
April.

War Resisters' International calls for an international day of
action in solidarity with Halil Savda on the day of his trial, and
likely sentencing.

Six Chilean conscientious objector went into hiding, to avoid being recruited into the Chilean military. Diego Contreras (CL14916, 19 years) from Concepcion, Cesar Romero (CL14917, 18 years), Patricio Alvarado (CL14918, 19 years), Jaime Silva (CL14919, 18 years) from Temuco, and Jorge Arevalo (CL14920, 18 years) and Sebastian Orlandi (CL14921, 18 years) from Santiago declared themselves conscientious objectors in the past year, when the new law on military service came into force, which introduced the automatic registration of youth eligible for conscription when they turn 18.

On 15 March,
Turkish conscientious objector Halil Savda (TK14682) was sentenced by
the Corlu military court to 15.5 months imprisonment - 12 months for
"desertion", and 3.5 months for "continued disobedience".

Yesterday, US conscientious objector Agustin Aguayo (US14915) was sentenced to eight months imprisonment by a US court martial in Würzburg, Germany. Aguayo had been charged with desertion and missing movement of his unit. Besides being sentenced to eight months imprisonment, the court martial also ordered his degradation and a dishonourable discharge.

Turkish conscientious objector Halil Savda (TK14682), who has been
arrested on 7
December 2006 when attending court, faces a second charge of
"disobeying orders" following a "release" from prison, transfer to his
military unit, and re-arrest in January 2007.

On 18 February 2007, Israeli conscientious objector Hadas Amit (ISR14913, see previous alerts on 18.12.06, 02.01.07, and 12.01.07) has been sentenced to a fifth prison term, this time to 21 days in military prison. This is the fifth consecutive prison term for Hadas. With it she has now been sentenced to a total of 73 days in prison, longer than any other woman conscientious objector we know of in Israel's history. She is due to be released from prison on 8 March 2007.

Israeli conscientious objector Hadis Amit (ISR14913, see previous alerts on 18.12.06 and 02.01.07), a 19 years' old woman CO, was given a third, consecutive prison term of 14 days on 9 January 2007, the same day she came out of prison. In addition, she was given 7 days of probation, which are likely to be added to her next prison term. She is due to be released from prison on 23 January 2007.

Israeli conscientious objector
Hadis Amit (ISR14913),
a 19 years' old woman CO, was given a second, consecutive prison term
of 10 days on 31 December 2006. She is due to be released from prison
on 9 January 2007. In a letter to the military
authorities, announcing her refusal to perform military service, Hadas
wrote: