According to the information available, Mr. Sheliazhenko was apprehended by officers of the Pechersk District Police in Kyiv without a proper legal basis and without compliance with the procedural safeguards required by Ukrainian law. In particular, there are indications that:
– no detention protocol was drawn up;
– no clear legal grounds for the deprivation of liberty were provided;
– access to legal counsel was obstructed;
– contact with the Ukrainian State Bureau of Investigation was obstructed;
– he was transferred, or intended to be transferred, to a Territorial Centre of Recruitment and Social Support (TCC) without due legal procedure.
We note that any involvement of the TCC does not exclude the responsibility of law enforcement officers for the initial deprivation of liberty. These actions may constitute violations of the Constitution of Ukraine and the European Convention on Human Rights, in particular Article 5 (right to liberty and security), and Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
Yurii Sheliazhenko is a well-known conscientious objector, publicly declared since 1998, a pacifist and a human rights defender. He is also an academic, the executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement (member organisation of War Resisters International), Director of the Institute of Peace and Law in Ukraine, and a Board member of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection and of World Beyond War.
Tragically, he has previously reported on the cruel practices of “busification”, forced conscription and compulsory military registration occurring in Ukraine, which in some cases have even led to tortures and deaths in military recruitment centers.2
We strongly condemn all these actions as grave human rights violations that have no place in democratic countries.
We urge the Ukrainian authorities to immediately release Yurii Sheliazhenko and cease all procedures of forced conscription.
We remind that his case has been previously included in a Communication by the Mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; the Special Rapporteur on minority issues and the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief.3 The case of Mr. Sheliazhenko, the communication of the Special Rapporteurs and the response of the Ukrainian authorities were highlighted also by the OHCHR, in its report concerning Conscientious objection to military service, and particularly in the chapter titled “Refrain from unduly restricting the human rights of those representing or advocating for the rights of conscientious objectors”.4 His case has been highlighted also in Amnesty International’s Annual Report 2023/2024.5
We repeat our call to the international community to exercise all proper actions to ensure that human rights defenders and peace activists are not criminalised for their actions for peace and nonviolence; moreover, that the right to conscientious objection is fully implemented in line with international standards and that conscientious objectors are provided with the necessary protection against persecution in their country of origin, also with asylum.
Connection e.V.
European Bureau for Conscientious Objection
International Fellowship of Reconciliation
War Resisters’ International
https://ebco-beoc.org/press-release/2026-01-23-yurii-sheliazhenko-conscientious-objector-to-military-service-and-human-rights-defender-under-immediate-threat ︎
https://ebco-beoc.org/ukraine/2024 ︎
AL UKR 1/2023, 8 November 2023, p. 5-6. https://spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBase/DownLoadPublicCommunicationFile?gId=28562 ︎
A/HRC/56/30, 23 April 2024, para. 45. https://docs.un.org/en/A/HRC/56/30︎
https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/pol10/7200/2024/en/ p. 385︎
