Prisoners for Peace 2000

1 December is International Prisoners for Peace Day, and every year War Resisters' International invites supporters to send greetings cards to prisoners. The Honour Roll includes those imprisoned for conscientious objection to military service and for nonviolent action against war preparations.

Prisoners for Peace honour roll 2000
Helping insumisos with a virtual support network
The power of prison support: Melissa Jameson on supporting a Plowshares prisoner
"You are not forgotten": Letters to Osman Murat Ülke
- CO supporters face trial in Istanbul
Belgrade: looking beyond the end of the regime
WRI appeal letter by Bojan Aleksov

1 December is Prisoners for Peace Day

Ken Simons

This year's Prisoners for Peace honour roll - listing those in prison for refusing to serve the war machine or for taking nonviolent direct action against military preparations - is strikingly similar to last year's list and the list from the year before.

Religious conscientious objectors from Armenia and Turkmenistan; total resisters from Finland and the state of Spain; and nonviolent disarmers from the United States continue to challenge their courts, governments, and armies.

In many cases, the same activists are repeatedly arrested and re-imprisoned for their deeply-held beliefs and spirit of resistance. In other cases, others come forward to continue the struggle of those imprisoned in the past. How is this commitment maintained for the months of imprisonment and the years of social struggle?

Support networks

Support networks are the focus of this year's Prisoners for Peace pack: our articles range from an email message in support of two "at large" insumisos in the state of Spain, to an account of the wide web of support around a US Plowshares prisoner, to a look at how the Turkish prison system dealt with all those cards and letters addressed to objector Osman Murat Ülke.

One notable absence from this year's list is the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. We include a statement from Women in Black Belgrade, expressing their joy and relief on the end of the Milosevic regime, and outlining the work that still needs to be done. The support that Women in Black has offered to COs, to deserters, to refugees, to political prisoners, to ethnic and social minorities, is hard to measure; but above all, it is a commitment which will continue.

Helping insumisos with a virtual support network

The following is an email message soliciting international support two Spanish insumisos. We reproduce it here as an illustration of the role that technology (and a very small commitment of time) can play in support to military resisters and prisoners. Postscript: on 21 November 2000, José and Alberto began their imprisonment in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid (see PfP list for address).

Dear Friends:

We hope this message finds you well. We come to you with an offer: would you like to join a support network for two anti-militarists who have deserted the Spanish army? For our disobedience, for fighting for a world free of military spending, armies and wars, we have been sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in prison.

What are the issues?

Military spending on this planet is insane and unfair. According to the UN, 5% of all military expenses could provide the basic health, nutrition, education, and sanitation needs of the entire world. However, the role of the army is not, as governments claim, to carry out humanitarian missions or to maintain the peace, but to defend the interests of the rich while the majority of the world is condemned to misery.

In Spain the conscientious objector movement is known as MOC (Movimiento de Objeción de Conciencia). It is a member of War Resisters' International. MOC has spent many years fighting to abolish the army and to redirect military expenses to social needs. To achieve that goal we have employed, among other strategies, insumisión (insubmission), a refusal to submit to obligatory military service. As a result, many people have been imprisoned. The pressure put on the government has caused it to move toward professionalising the army, but the anti-military movement remains firm in its work toward world peace.

The present strategy of MOC is centred on desertion, known in Spanish as "Insumisión en los Cuarteles." In February of 1998, José Ignacio Royo and Alberto Estefanía deserted the Spanish army. This year they were tried by a military court and sentenced to 2 years and 4 months in prison. At this moment they are at large but will soon be taken into custody. What are they looking for? A just world, one without armies and wars. Utopia? No more than the eradication of poverty or equality for women. The aim is to move in that direction-as more people do, we will all gain strength.

What is Red de Apoyo?

Red de Apoyo is Spanish for Support Network. It is an extensive list of people and organisations who are sensitive to injustice and who want to be informed.

What is the commitment?

A small one: to receive a message like this from time to time (once a month, or less) and to send it out to others.

If this cause interests you, all you have to do is reply to redapoyo@ole.comwith a YES.

Muchas gracias for your attention and your support.

Source: Red de Apoyo a José y Alberto (redapoyo@ole.com)

The power of prison support

"Plowshares is a powerful tradition that speaks just as loudly as we can in the discipline of nonviolence. It breaks the invisibility that protects these weapons from public awareness. It acts as a kind of cosmic theatre at the edge of nuclear disaster. By beating our nuclear swords into plowshares, we enact the imagery of Isaiah 2:4 and speak in a breath the whole manifesto of life without annihilation. It speaks in such volume in part because we go where we would never dare to go. By its damage to property (of mass destruction), it challenges a culture that values property more than life, and by willing to sacrifice our freedom, and perhaps our lives, the strength of our belief has a voice."
From "The Efficacious Hammer" by Sachio Ko-Yin

Melissa Jameson

In August 1998, Sachio Ko-Yin and Dan Sicken entered a nuclear missile silo in Weld County, Colorado, USA, and proceeded symbolically to transform death into life.

How shall I talk about doing support for a Plowshares prisoner? First, the excitement of the action and the post-action high ("They didn't shoot us! I talked to the FBI about Thoreau!"); the rush of speaking engagements and attendant press prior to the trial; trial preparation; then the night before the trial, that time-honoured tradition, a Festival of Hope, attended by friends from near and far - a potluck dinner, a reunion, a send-off, an interfaith service. Finally, after conviction, a sentence at a Federal Prison Camp (for Sachio, 30 months, for Dan, 41 months).

We established a local support committee, which had some turnover of people, but which was always helpful to meet with to share resources, build solidarity, or do fundraising. There was also excellent support in Colorado: the Bijou Community, which hosted Sachio and Dan for the time between the action and trial, during which they were released on their own recognisance.

Another vehicle for us was a newsletter we published. This way, even if Sachio was not able to write folks directly because he was working for the prison or working with other prisoners, at least there was some communication from him. After an initial flurry of press coverage, it was tough to interest papers in continuing to write about the action, so it was good that we had this medium. We also had coverage in several alternative publications, which included having Sachio write for them.

The world is a circle: getting outside support for the action also helped Sachio inside prison. And the work Sachio did with other prisoners garnered support for Plowshares. He put nonviolence into practice and built community along the way. He distributed information pertaining to prisoners' rights and efforts to reform sentencing laws; he taught meditation; he started a "Nonviolent Activist" discussion group; he even ran a poetry group, called the François Villon Society after the 15th century burglar-poet!

Commitment is essential; I think it would be almost impossible to do this if you were not into it. Or you'd have to develop a rapid working understanding of its importance in order to rationalise the incredible amounts of time and energy you expend. As it was, Sachio and I had grown together in our involvement in peace and justice issues for several years: we did CD, had a War Resisters League local, hosted anarchist discussion groups-you know, led the life. This action was very much in keeping with my pacifist ideals.

Spending time that was not focused on Sachio and the action has also been important to maintain a sense of balance. I learned anew the value of friendship - friends old and new listened whenever I needed to talk, which was a lot. And the women I met when I visited Sachio in prison, whose own loved ones were also doing time, consistently impressed me with their strength and grace.

Plowshares actions themselves are sometimes spoken of as being the tip of an iceberg of activism and action - support work is essential for the word to get out, for the prisoner to be sustained, for continued transformation of society to take place. My belief in the power of the work is stronger than ever.

Sachio is currently finishing his sentence on home confinement in Pennsylvania His address is 39 South 4th Street, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA.
For newsletter information, email: mmariejames@hotmail.com or write: Melissa Jameson, c/o WRL, 339 Lafayette, NYC, NY 10012 USA

"You are not forgotten"

When on 14 October 1996, Osman (Ossi) Murat Ülke began to serve his sentence in the military prison of Mamak in Ankara, a flood of protest and solidarity letters soon poured in. His case shows how effective letters to Prisoners for Peace can be. Ossi's imprisonment had been expected and partner organisations in Western Europe (including many sections of the WRI) and in Turkey were prepared.

During his first days of imprisonment, Ossi received up to 100 letters a day. He felt that the prison walls were tumbling down. He was in a cell and still he was in contact with so many people nationally and internationally. "This motivated me very much. I tried to answer all letters and I was spending my whole day in the cell writing letters. Fortunately I knew from my lawyers and from replies that my letters had actually been despatched".

Many people write short postcards or greeting cards. On one Christmas card there is the encouraging sentence "We know of your fate and we wish you strength". Ossi comments, "It is curious that living in an Islamic country and being an anarchist and an atheist, I have received so many Christmas cards. But, each card expresses that someone has thought of me, and that gives energy.

"The most motivating letters were those where people also tell me their own story. And what do they think of the reasons which sent me to prison? What is their opinion about conscientious objection, about war, about civil disobedience and such topics? Their opinions stimulate my thinking and give me great satisfaction.

"The best of all is of course if a person writes you regularly and even sends you parcels. There was a Dutch English teacher living in France who sent me seven or eight parcels. Her son had refused to bear arms as well and so she supported me with all the more understanding. She sent me chocolate, books and newspapers."

Of course, governments know very well the supporting strength of solidarity mail, and they prefer that such letters do not always reach the prisoner. During the first month, Ossi received at least 30 letters and cards every day, but later on his mail was intercepted and kept by the authorities. So the Association of War Resisters of Izmir which had coordinated the mail action, requested friends to send the letters and cards to the address of the association instead. Thanks to this, quite a few letters could enter the prison walls together with papers from his lawyer.

But even if mail does not arrive in the prisoner's cell, the mere existence of these letters is a warning to the government that they cannot just do what they please. Each letter raises the "barrier" against torture a little higher, each letter means a bit of protection for the person behind bars. "We can only conjecture about the influence of such letters of protest, or of international observers' delegations, on the sentences handed down. So for instance we had to watch helplessly in the case of (Kurdish parliamentarian) Leyla Zana when not even conspicuous international solidarity was able to influence the Turkish criminal justice system into treating its own citizens according to the rule of the law", said Hülya Ücpinar, a lawyer and the head of the Centre for Human Rights and Juridical Research, Izmir.

"When I was transferred to the Eskehir military prison, the director of course knew who I am, and so I was able to retain the rights which I had won through my hunger strike at Mamak: I was permitted to receive books and periodicals. And my "influence" was visible at other times: one day I was led past the guards' day-room. There, seven or eight soldiers were sitting around a table on which there was a heap of solidarity mail-which the soldiers were reading from and quoting to each other for entertainment. Who would be able to say if that activity may not have had some unexpected influence on them?" reports Ossi.

translated by Konrad Borst

Osman Murat Ülke was released from prison on 8 March 2000; under Turkish military law he is still considered a deserter but has not been re-arrested.

Yasin Yildirim speaks at a 15 May 2000 International CO Day meeting in London, with interpreter Umit Oztürk (l) and Bruce Kent (r). Yasin and two other members of the Istanbul Antimilitarist Initiative, Mustafa Seyhoglu and Gökhan Birdal, were charged with "alienating the people from the army" because of their public support for imprisoned objector Osman Murat Ülke. The final stage of their trial opens in Istanbul on 5 December; an international delegation is being organised. Contact uygarabaci@hotmail.com for more information.

Women in Black Against War - Belgrade
9 of October 1991 - 9 of October 2000

NINE YEARS OF POLITICAL ACTIVISM OF WOMEN IN BLACK - THE END OF TOTALITARIAN REGIME

We wish to congratulate to all women and men citizens, non-governmental organisations, movement OTPOR and opposition parties who have contributed to the end of this fascist regime. Milosevic has been defeated on the elections of the 24th of September 2000 and the citizens have kept this victory on the streets with the civil disobedience on the 5th of October 2000..

WOMEN IN BLACK AGAINST WAR have came out on the street of Belgrade on the 9th of October of 1991 in order to protest against regime of Slobodan Milosevic, militarism, nationalism and violence against women.

Nine years after that - we are happy that the first aim of our protest is fulfilled! The regime is defeated!

But it is not yet done! Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal and is responsible for wars and ethnic cleansing in Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Kosova.

WE ARE FULL OF JOY FOR THE END OF TERROR - BUT WE STILL DEMAND

extradition of Slobodan Milosevic to the International Tribunal of War Crimes for Former Yugoslavia in Den Haag,
freeing Flora Brovina and all the Albanians from Kosova, as well as Miroslav Filipovic, who are imprisoned in Serbia for the false political processes, as well as response: where is Ivan Stambolic,
urgent amnesty for all the deserters, and introducing new programs for reintegration of men who have refused to participate in Milosevic's wars,
shortening the obligatory army duty period to 6 months, as well as introducing the right to the civil military,
supporting the actions for the political rights of women, for the equal participation of women in the institutions of the state,

THERE IS A GREAT JOY AMONG US FOR THIS END - BUT OUR WORK IS NOT DONE - WE WILL CONTINUE TO WORK ON ELIMINATION OF MILITARISM, NATIONALISM AND MALE VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN!

Belgrade
Women in Black, 9 of October 2000
e-mail:stasazen@eunet.yu

Prisoners for Peace Honour Roll 2000

3rd (and final) EDITION: updated 2000.11.15

This list includes some names of prisoners whose sentences will end before 1 December; their names are indicated in green. We also include the names of nonviolent war resisters who are currently at liberty but will be standing trial shortly after 1 December; their names are indicated in red. Names of all other prisoners appear in blue.

Armenia

Artur Stepanian
Vigen Hakopian
Vardan Virabian
Khachatur Zakarian
Garib Grigorian
Armen Harttenian
Vitaly Usupov
Aram Kazarian
Armen Babaian
Vaginak Saroian
Henrik Hovnikian
g Kosh, ITK, Nachalniku, Armenia
All are Jehovah's Witnesses, and are serving sentences of one to four and a half years. Virabian is serving his second sentence for refusing to serve in the military. Usupov, an ethnic Kurd, was forcibly conscripted and denied interpretation facilities at his trial.

Finland

Total objectors face a maximum prison sentence of 197 days. Since November 1999 Amnesty International has adopted a total of 14 Finnish total objectors as prisoners of conscience, based on their refusal to perform what is considered a punitive length of alternative service (more than twice as long as military service). The following total objectors will be in prison on 1 December:

Marko Tauriainen (28.8.2000-11.3.2001)
Suomenlinnan työsiirtola, Suomenlinna C 86, 00190 Helsinki, Finland

Teemu Kalvas(29.9.2000-12.4.2001)
Anssi Korhonen(1.9.2000-18.3.2001)
Juho Lindman (31.8.2000-16.3.2001)
Sami M. J. Nieminen (2.10.2000-19.4.2001)
Janne O. Nurminen (2.10.2000-18.4.2001)
Ilmari Saarilehto (2.10.2000-18.4.2001)
Helsingin työsiirtola, PL 36, 01531 Vantaa, Finland

Joonas Peltola (1.8.2000-17.2.2001)
Vilppulan varavankila, Kotiniementie 67, 35700 Vilppula, Finland

Greece

Lazaros Petromelidis is charged with "insubordination in time of general mobilization" for refusing to serve a punitive 39 months of alternative service. Lazaros is 37 years old and father of a child, a condition which would normally mean he would serve 4 months of regular military service; he has offered to do 8 months' alternative service, but this has been rejected. His next court appearance is at the military appellate court in Athens, 12 December.

Israel

Noam Kuzar served a 28-day sentence for refusal to serve in military actions against Palestinians in early October 2000. Other refusals of particular actions by soldiers and reservists may be expected if there is a widening of the present conflict.

Mordechai Vanunu
Ashkelon Prison, Ashkelon, Israel
Nuclear whistleblower convicted of espionage and treason -- kidnapped 30.09.1986. Serving 18 years, More information available from U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, 2206 Fox Ave., Madison, WI 53711, USA (+1 608-257-4764; http://www.nonviolence.org/vanunu)

Macedonia

During 2000, at least three conscientious objectors have received sentences of 2-3 months for refusal to serve. Under proposed new regulations, alternative service will be recognised but will be for 14 months, five months longer than military service. Applications for exemption on conscientious grounds are accepted only during the first 15 days after call-up.

Romania

In a series of trials in June 2000, 29 conscientious objectors -- all of them Jehovah's Witnesses -- were sentenced to prison terms of between 18 and 30 months. All sentences have been suspended for three and a half years.

State of Spain

José Ignacio Royo (2 yrs 4 mo from 11.2000) 2nd grade
Alberto Estefanía (2 yrs 4 mo from 11.2000) 2nd grade
Jesús Belascoain Ekisoain (2 yrs 4 mo from 8.2000) 2nd grade
José María Trillo-Figueroa Calvo (2 yrs 4 mo from 7.2000) 2nd grade
Juan Carlos Pérez Barranco (completed 2 yr 4 mo sentence 1.2000 but held in "preventive detention") 3rd grade
José Manuel De La Fuente Ríos (2 yrs 4 mo from 8.2000) 3rd grade
Unai Molinero Ortiz (2 yrs 4 mo 1 day from 11.1999) 3rd grade
Raúl Alonso López (2 yrs 4 mo from 6.1999) 3rd grade
Ignacio Ardanaz Ruíz (2 yrs 4 mo from 3.1999) 3rd grade
Javier Gómez Sánchez (2 yrs 4 mo from 2.1999) 3rd grade
Rafael Fernández Ferrete (2 yrs 4 mo 1 day from 12.1998) Conditional liberty

Joseph Ghanime López (2 yrs 5 mo from 7.1999) 3rd grade
Alberto Naya Suárez (2 yrs 4 mo from 7.1999) 3rd grade. He has requested a transfer to A Coruña (Galiza/Galicia), citing a constitutional requirement to keep prisoners close to their families.
Imprisoned for desertion as a result of the "insumisión in the barracks" campaign. The last two, Joseph and Alberto, were arrested following a public action. All are held in:
Prisión Militar de Alcalá, Ctra Alcalá-Meco, km 5, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, State of Spain.

Turkey

The final stage of the trial of Mustafa Seyhoglu, Yasin Yildirim and Gökhan Birdal -- charged under section 155 of the Turkish Criminal Code for "alienating the people from the military" -- will be held in Istanbul on 5 December. See accompanying photo and caption.

Turkmenistan

Nuryagdy Gairov was sentenced to one year's imprisonment on 19 January 2000. He is serving his term in a corrective labour colony in Tedzhen. Igor Nazarov, another Jehovah's Witness, may still be serving a two-year sentence for objection at the same camp.

United States of America

Sam Hochstetler (30 days from 23 October 2000)
Greg Boertje-Obed (6 months from 23 October 2000)
Montgomery Co. Detention Center, 1307 Seven Locks Rd. Rockville MD 20854 USA
Kristen Betts (60 days from 23 October 2000)
Kent County Detention Center, 104 Vickers Dr., Chestertown, MD 21620
Trespass at Andrews Air Force Base, following a leafletting presence during an air show. The military prosecutor argued that the three had been "participating in a political protest with a message intended to deteriorate the military's morale thereby hindering them from carrying out their mission of defending the US in the event of war".

Peter De Mott (60 days from 23 October 2000)
Felton Davis (90 days from 23 October 2000)
Alexandria Co. Jail, 2001 Mill Rd., Alexandria, VA 22314 USA
Obstruction following a peaceful protest at the Pentagon, Hiroshima Day 2000.

Daniel Sicken #28360-013 (41 months)
FPC Lewisburg, P.O. Box 2000, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA
Sachio Ko-Yin (30 months)
39 South 4th Street, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA
"Minuteman III Plowshares" direct disarmament of nuclear missile silo, 6.8.1998. Sachio is serving the remainder of his sentence at home; see also Melissa Jameson's article on Ploughshares support.

Philip Berrigan #292-139 (30 months; in 12.1999)
Rev. Steve Kelly S.J. #292-140 (27 months; in 12.1999)
Roxbury Correctional Institution, 18701 Roxbury Rd., Hagerstown MD 21746, USA
Susan Crane #916-999 (27 months; in 12.1999)
Maryland Correctional Institution for Women, P.O. Box 535, Jessup, MD 20794, USA
Elizabeth Walz #995376 (18 months; in 12.1999)
Baltimore Co. Detention Center, 200 Court House Court, Towson, MD 21204, USA
"Plowshares Vs. Depleted Uranium" direct disarmament of A-10 anti-tank warplanes

Sr. Megan Rice #88101-020 (6 months, out 8.12.2000)
FCI Danbury, Route 37 Pembroke Station, Danbury, CT 06811-3099, USA
Re-entry trespass at the School of the Americas, Ft. Benning, 11.1999

Howard Mechanic #44998-008 (5 years)
CCA-FCC FA203B, P.O. Box 6900, Florence, AZ 85232, USA
Convicted 03.1972 of violating Civil Obedience Act of 1968 during St. Louis protest following killings at Kent State University, May 1970 - surrendered to serve sentence 02.2000

John Patrick Liteky #83725-020
FPC Sheridan, PO Box 6000, Sheridan, OR 97378-6000, USA
Sentenced for several blood pouring protests against the School of the Americas at the Pentagon on 29.09.1997 and 20.10.1997 and at Ft Benning on 25.02.1998

Ideas for action

On 1 December, put aside at least one hour and write at least four cards to prisoners;
If possible, invite friends around and make an evening of it-remember to bring nice cards, pens, photos, and some money for postage;
Get your peace group or class or place of worship to organise a card-writing session;
Set up a stall in your town centre, perform a bit of street theatre, or do whatever else it takes to attract attention and interest.

Sending cards and letters

Always send your card in an envelope;
Include a return name and address on the envelope;
Be chatty and creative: send photos from your life, drawings;
Tell prisoners what you are doing to stop war and war preparations;
Don't write anything that might get the prisoner into trouble;
Think about the sort of thing you'd like to receive if you were in prison;
Don't begin, "You are so brave, I could never do what you have done";
Don't expect the prisoner to reply;
Remember-next year it could be you...

If you get an interesting reply from a prisoner, please send a copy to the WRI office, 5 Caledonian Rd, London N1 9DX, England.

If your card is returned, send it to the appropriate embassy in your country, with a request that it be forwarded to the prisoner.

Support our future work for Prisoners for Peace

For 45 years, War Resisters' International has publicised the names and stories of prisoners of conscience. Help us keep up the tradition:

Send in a special PfP donation to WRI to help fund next year's research.
Give a Peace News subscription to a prisoner on our list (or provide us with the name and address of someone not on our list).
Contribute to our fund for free subscriptions for pacifist workers and organisations that cannot afford Peace News.

Send contributions to: War Resisters' International, 5 Caledonian Road, London N1 9DX, England (tel +44 20 7278 4040; fax 7278 0444; email info@wri-irg.org).

Your outreach to prisoners does make a difference. Show your solidarity!

Thank you

Names of prisoners were provided by the Finnish Union of COs, Amnesty International, InsuPiso, European Bureau for Conscientious Objectors, and The Nuclear Resister. Our translators include Dominique Saillard, Yolanda Juarros, Carmen Magallón, Katia Ruiz-Jodra, Rose Marie Jodra, Inge Dreger, Roger Gaillard, and Konrad Borst.

Prisoners for Peace in other languages

Deutsch | français | español

War Resisters' International Appeal

Bojan Aleksov writes:

Dear friends and supporters of War Resisters' International,

Resisting war and militarism in many countries still means arrest and imprisonment. Pacifists and anti-militarists who resist state violence in the form of conscription, war tax, military expenditures, nuclear arms or military support to dictatorial regimes often end up as victims of other forms of state violence, which include physical torture or long prison terms.

Earlier this year I was kidnapped, interrogated and tortured by the Serbian State Security Service. Though shocked by the brutality of my interrogators I knew I was not there by mistake. It was my continuous work in supporting conscientious objectors and deserters that brought me to that cellar. The regime which generated wars and violence for almost thirteen years was left with violence alone. Eventually, it decided to use violence even against those who only politically supported the acts of disobedience.

Being imprisoned for peace is no issue of bravery. I cried and prayed and begged my torturers. I was not a hero and never wanted to be one. It was only my political stand against war and violence as means of resolving conflicts and my political struggle for the respect of basic human right to resist war and violence that brought me in danger from an oppressive state.

Elsewhere in the world there are other men and women imprisoned because they refused to kill or fled military service or refused to pay war taxes. These are the people and acts that we honour on this day. We remember them in our thoughts and prayers but we also act in solidarity and support.

This December 1st of the year 2000 on behalf of WRI I ask :

for immediate release of the imprisoned who struggled for peace;
for the right to freedom of conscience, both for those required to engage in killing against their will, and for those required to finance killing (through taxation) against their will, to be recognised globally;
for the right to asylum to people from countries where conscientious objections is not recognised and for whom asylum is often the only alternative to taking up arms, or to being imprisoned, tortured, or even executed.

In order to help us achieve these goals set up by WRI more than three quarters of a century ago, we would like to ask for your contribution in supporting those voices for peace which are striving to be heard. We enclose the 2000 WRI Prisoners for Peace Honour Roll, and we encourage you to mark December 1st by distributing news, messages of support and calls to action concerning those imprisoned. We call for financial support to their families. We ask for protests, vigils and campaigns for their release.

In its turn, WRI will sustain its solidarity work with war resisters, deserters, conscientious objectors, peace-makers and conciliation workers around the globe.

In solidarity with you and fellow war resisters around the globe,

Bojan Aleksov
Member of WRI, former Yugoslavia

PS Your contribution will help WRI support Prisoners for Peace. Please see details of how to donate. Thank you.