#Ukraine: #Pacifism is not a #crime in democratic states! Drop the charge against Yurii Sheliazhenko
We are all shocked that the Security Service of Ukraine broke into the apartment of Yurii Sheliazhenko yesterday, August 3rd 2023, and conducted an illegal search and seizure operation, finding nothing criminal and taking his phone, his computer, as well as some documents of the #Ukrainian #Pacifist Movement. We strongly protest about the harassment of Yurii Sheliazhenko, who is summoned to interrogation on August 7th, 8th and 9th 2023.
We remind the Ukrainian government that #pacifism is not a crime in democratic states. We demand that the charge against Yurii Sheliazhenko is immediately dropped, and that #HumanRights are fully protected, including the right to freedom of expression and the right to #ConscientiousObjection to #military service, which is inherent in the right to #freedom of thought, #conscience and #religion, guaranteed, amongst others, under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, as well as under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is non-derogable even in a time of public emergency, as stated in Article 4(2) of ICCPR.
Yurii Sheliazhenko is a well-known #ConscientiousObjector, pacifist, human rights defender and lawyer. We strongly condemn all actions of harassment and all attempts of intimidation against him and the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, as well as all cases of forced recruitment and even abduction of #conscripts to the involved armies, and all #persecutions of #ConscientiousObjectors, deserters and non-violent #anti-war protestors.