The Desnyanskyi District Court of Chernihiv is considering the case of an AIT member from Volyn who voluntarily left a military unit after being mobilized because his religious beliefs do not allow him to take up arms. We tell the details of the story.
The Desnyanskyi District Court of Chernihiv is considering the case of an AIT member from Volyn who voluntarily left a military unit after being mobilized because his religious beliefs do not allow him to take up arms. We tell the details of the story.
The suspect indicated that in 2004 he was baptized in a religious organization, and since then it has been impossible for him to take the oath as a military serviceman, which contradicts his religious beliefs. He is a deacon of the religious organization «Religious Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Ukraine», but he is not registered as a clergyman. Given this, he cannot perform military service, which he reported during his mobilization. He does not consider himself a military serviceman. Therefore, when he was taken to the training center and left unguarded in the forest, he immediately left the location of the military unit without informing anyone about it.
According to the case materials, the prosecutor demanded a restrictive measure in the form of detention for the accused. However, the lawyer of the AIT resident indicated that the suspect is a deeply religious person and a member of the Religious Organization «Religious Center of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Ukraine», and therefore he cannot be a military serviceman and is not the subject of a criminal offense.
According to the defense attorney, as a clergyman, the programmer could be booked. The attorney also informed the court that the suspect was denied the option of replacing military service with alternative (non-military) service.
«In fact, the military unit gave him the opportunity to leave the military unit; he did not escape from military service,» the case materials state.
The defense attorney requested that the motion be denied, and in the event of detention, a bail of twenty subsistence minimums for able-bodied persons be set.
After hearing the arguments of the participants in the court session and examining the materials of the criminal proceedings, the court imposed a preventive measure on the programmer for SZCh in the form of detention, with further detention in the guardhouse of the Military Law Enforcement Service branch without determining the amount of bail until May 25, 2025.
An appeal may be filed against the ruling to the Chernihiv Court of Appeal within five days from the date of its announcement. For a person in custody, the deadline for filing an appeal is calculated from the moment of serving him a copy of the court decision.
