Recent CO Action alerts

On 20 May, Greece conscientious objector Lazaros Petromelidis has again been sentenced in absentia to three years imprisonment on two charges of insubordination by the Naval Court of Piraeus. This means that there is again an arrest warrant for Lazaros Petromelidis, and he is in imminent danger of imprisonment.

Turkish conscientious objector Halil Savda was arrested again on 27 March 2008, during a solidarity demonstration for imprisoned conscientious objector Ismail Saygi. Halil Savda read a statement in the name of the Solidarity Initiative for Saygi, saying:

Colombian conscientious objector Diego Yesid Bosa Rico, who has been illegally recruited on
23 February 2008, began a hunger strike in protest against his recruitment and treatment on 26 March 2008. He is also refusing to enter the dormitories. In response, the military offered him to do
his military service in an office, without the need to take up arms. However, on the morning of 27 March 2008, they threatened him with five soldiers.

Turkish conscientious objector İsmail Saygı has been arrested on 16 March 2008 in Istanbul. İsmail Saygı declared his conscientious objection on 15 November
2006, after having served seven month of military service. Following his arrest, İsmail Saygı was first taken to the Uskudar Military Police, and from there to Maltepe Military prison.

ArmeniaNow.com reported today that seven Jehovah's Witnesses have been sentenced to prison terms between 24 months and 36 months for the refusal to continue serving in a substitute service controlled ultimately by the Ministry of Defence.

Narek Alaverdyan (ARM14733) and Arsen Sevoyan (ARM14734), who in 2005 began their substitute service in the Mental Hospital of Kapan, refused to continue their service in May 2005 (see co-alert, 19 May 2005). Both were sentenced now sentenced on charges of "organised absence without leave from the place of service" to two years' imprisonment.

On Sunday, 14 October 2007, military police arrested German total
objector Moritz Kagelmann (DE14934), and transferred him to 'his'
military unit in Strausberg.

Moritz Kagelmann had been called up to report for military service on
1 October, but did not do so. As a total objector he also refused to
apply for conscientious objector status, as this would imply
acceptance of the civilian substitute service, which he views as
another form of forced labour.

Four Finnish total objectors were sentenced to unconditional prison
sentences by the Loviisa district court (Loviisan käräjäoikeus) on
Tuesday 11th of September. Each of them was charged of "alternative
service crime" and each of them got sentenced to prison for of the
substitute service time not yet served at the time of refusal.

War Resisters' International learned today via Forum 18 New
Service that Turkmen conscientious objector Begench Shakhmuradov
has been sentenced to two years suspended sentence yesterday, on 12
September 2007. He is the fifth Turkmen conscientious objector to be
sentenced within the last few weeks.

The conditions are likely to include regular reporting to the police, a
ban on leaving the house at night and a requirement to get permission
if he wants to leave the city.

Amnesty International reports that conscientious objector Begench Shakhmuradov, a Jehovah's Witness, is to be tried for refusing to serve in the army on 10 September 2007. Begench Shakhmuradov was called up for military service in May 2007, and was deemed fit for military service, although he suffers from tuberculosis which he contracted while serving a prison sentence in 2005 for "evasion of call-up for military service" (see co-alert, 18/02/2005). He had been sentenced to one year imprisonment on 10 February 2005.

The Military Court of Eskisehir turned down the application by Osman
Murat Ülke's lawyer Hülya Üçpınar on 27 July 2007. In July, Osman Murat
Ülke received an information from the Military Prosecutor's office in
Eskisehir, ordering him to present himself to the prosecutor, in order
to serve outstanding sentences for "persistent disobedience" (see
co-alert, 11 July
2007).

War Resisters' International learned today about the sentencing of
three conscientious objectors in Turkmenistan. Nuryagdy Gairov
(TKM14926) has been sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment on 18 July, at
a closed trial at Kopetdag district court in the Turkmen capital
Ashgabat, for "evasion of call-up to military service". According to
Jehovah's Witness sources quoted by Amnesty International, he did not
have a lawyer and his family had not been informed of the trial. He had
been arrested on 14 June, and had been held incommunicado for over a
month.

War Resisters' International learned today that Finnish total objector Antti Rautiainen has again been imprisoned, this time for 16 days. Rautiainen has consistently refused to attend call-ups every time he has been called up since November 1997. Since then he has been called up altogether 20 times. On 20th of August 2001 WRI issued a co-alert on Rautiainen.

War Resisters' International is worried about recent developments in the cases of two young Colombian men, Carlos Andrés Giraldo Hincapié (COL14911) and Frank Yair Estrada Marin (COL14922). Both have been recruited illegally are forced to perform their military service against their will, and the
conscientious objection.

German total objector Alexander Hense (DE14924) received a new
arrest of 18 days on Sunday, directly following the release from his
first arrest of 7 days (see co-alert, 11 July 2007).

On 14 June 2007, two Jehovah's Witness conscientious objectors, Bayram Ashirgeldiev (TKM14925) and Nuryagdy Gairov (TKM14926) were detained in Turkmenistan, and have been charged with "evasion of call-up to military service" according to article 219 part 1 of the Criminal Code of Turkmenistan. Both are now believed to be held in pre-trial detention in the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat. According to reports received by Amnesty International, they have not been able to meet with their lawyers, and their family members have not been able to visit them.

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.