Jehovah’s Witness in Ukraine sentenced to 3 years in jail for draft dodging

Another Jehovah’s Witness imprisoned for refusing to serve in the military. Photo: Judicial Legal Newspaper

The Netishyn City Court in Khmelnytskyi Region sentenced a 38-year-old Jehovah’s Witness to three years in prison for refusing military mobilization on religious grounds, according to Judicial Legal Newspaper.

Case materials No. 679/1595/24 indicate that the man received two military summonses in August and September 2024. A military medical commission found him fit for service, but he refused to report in response to the summonses.

In court, the defendant explained his stance based on his religious beliefs: “I have deep and firm convictions that do not allow me to be in the military or support military actions. I completed alternative civilian service instead of compulsory military service due to these beliefs,” he told the court.

Nevertheless, the court did not take his religious motivations into account, found him guilty of committing a crime under Article 336 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (evasion of military conscription during a special period), and sentenced him to three years in prison.

This is far from the first case of Jehovah’s Witnesses being sentenced in Ukraine for refusing mobilization. In July 2024, a Protestant was sentenced to three years by the Akhtyrka Court. In August 2024, another Jehovah’s Witness was convicted in Kyiv Region. In March 2025, a member of a Jehovah’s Witness community in Lviv Region received the same sentence.

Earlier, the UOJ reported that DESS head Viktor Yelenskyi once again referred to Ukraine as a “stronghold of religious freedom.”

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