total objection

It should !

In the previous month(s), the WRI office issued the following co-alerts:

(a full archive of co-alerts is available at wri-irg.org/news/alerts)

ARMENIA: Seven conscientious objectors sentenced to 24 and 36 months imprisonment Thu 15 November 2007

[co-alert] DE14934-151007: GERMANY: Total objector in military arrest Mon 15 October 2007

In the previous month, the WRI office issued the following co-alerts:

(a full archive of co-alerts is available at wri-irg.org/news/alerts)

In the previous month, the WRI office issued the following co-alerts (a full archive of co-alerts is available at wri-irg.org/news/alerts)

ISR14726-14753-14754-14762-300905: ISRAEL: New objectors in prison Fri Sep 30

GER14755-120905: GERMANY: Total objector fined 900 Euros Mon Sep 12

ISR14726-1473

Finland: War Resisters' International releases report on imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland

In preparation for Prisoners for Peace Day on 1 December, and for the autumn session of the UN Human Rights Committee, War Resisters' International released a new report on imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Finland. The Executive Summary of this report sums up the situation:

The right to conscientious objection is only recognised in peacetime.

The Greek law on conscientious objection has been amended so that now conscientious objectors serving in substitute service can finish their service after serving twice the time of military service minus 1 month - this would amount to 23 months of substitute service. Practically this is a reduction from 30 months to 23 months. However, substitute service is still considerably longer than military service, and has still to be considered as punitive in length.

While the shortening of substitute service is somehow good news, WRI also received bad news from Greece.

By Torsten Froese