Brussels, 15 May 2012
On the occasion of the International Day on Conscientious Objection on May 15th, the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO) expresses its deep concern over the criminal prosecution of Nikita Konev, a Russian pacifist charged with draft dodging.
Nikita Konev from Kirovsk, Murmansk region, grew up in a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses. In 2011, he applied for substitution of the military conscript service by alternative civilian service to the Kirovsk military commissariat, which should have transmitted the application to the call up commission.