Zhytomyr court gives pastor suspended sentence for refusing mobilization
A court handed a pastor a three-year suspended prison sentence for refusing military service on religious grounds.
The Berdychiv City District Court in the Zhytomyr region sentenced a 49-year-old pastor to three years in prison, suspended with a two-year probationary period, for evading military mobilization.
The Berdychiv resident was called up for military service in December 2025. A military medical commission found him fit for service in noncombat units and offered him a position in a rear support unit near his home. However, he refused to serve, explaining that he was a pastor of a religious organization and that his faith prohibited him from bearing arms, taking a military oath, or serving in the armed forces. In court, the defendant pleaded not guilty and requested an acquittal.
The court rejected his request to perform alternative civilian service instead of being mobilized, ruling that Ukrainian law provides for such an option only in cases of regular conscription. The ruling stated that under martial law, there is no provision for replacing mobilized military service with alternative service, and that refusing mobilization on religious grounds is unlawful.
As the UOJ previously reported, a Baptist in the Volyn region received a suspended sentence for refusing mobilization.
