Friends uphold arrested Ukrainian pacifist

‘If I will be sent to prison for pacifism, I will find a way to be useful for peace-loving Ukraine in prison too.’

Quakers are upholding a Ukrainian conscientious objector whose apartment was raided by the Ukrainian authorities. He was arrested for ‘justifying Russian aggression’.

Yurii Sheliazhenko, executive director of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, is a prominent campaigner who has taken part in Quaker talks on the Ukraine invasion.

Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) said it was writing to the government of Ukraine, requesting the release of Sheliazhenko, as Quaker-related groups including Fellowship of Reconciliation and Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) condemned the ‘harassment’, joining a long line of peace groups. The Peace Pledge Union called the charges ‘ludicrous’, saying ‘Yurii Sheliazhenko has consistently condemned Russian aggression as well as NATO and all other militarism’.

Oliver Robertson, head of Witness and Worship for BYM, said: ‘Nobody should be forced to kill another human being… Sadly this isn’t the only case where pacifists and conscientious objectors have been targeted. We are aware of cases in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Upholding this right, even in times of war, is a sign of a country’s commitment to respecting everyone’s freedom of religion and belief.’

‘The charge is based solely on Sheliazhenko’s “Peace Agenda for Ukraine and the World”, a document which explicitly condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine and promotes peace, justice, and the right to conscientious objection to military service,’ the International Peace Bureau said. Posting on Facebook, QCEA said: ‘Those who work for peace should not be persecuted.’

QCEA also backed an open letter from the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection condemning the charges and requesting an urgent meeting with the president and minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. ‘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.’

The letter also reminded the minister that ‘the right to conscientious objection to military service is inherent in the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion’ under European law.

In response to the charges, Yurii Sheliazhenko said it was ‘absurd’ to accuse pacifists of being apologists for war, ‘especially Putin’s cruel war against Ukraine with these bombings of my city’. He lives in Kyiv, and has remained there since the war began.

Yurii sent a message via the Stop the War coalition on 6 August, saying: ‘During a year, [the] Security Service of Ukraine secretly surveilled me, tried to find any links with Russian agents, found nothing, but still convinced I am an enemy because of my advocacy of peace by peaceful means, of ceasefire and peace talks to stop senseless bloodshed and destruction.’

Describing the search of his apartment as ‘inconvenient’ – his computer, and paperwork needed to prepare legal support for conscientious objectors, were seized – he wrote: ‘But I will not run from my home and my country; if I will be sent to prison for pacifism, I will find a way to be useful for peace-loving Ukraine in prison too.’

The PPU has written to the Ukrainian Embassy in the UK to protest against his treatment and to call for all charges to be dropped immediately.

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