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WRI homepage > Publications > The Broken Rifle > No.33, December 1995
Luis Gabriel Caldas León
Carrera 34A este
#91A-39 Sur
Bogotá
Colombia
(in 06/95 - out 02/96)
Jailed for desertion despite never having joined the armed forces. Was refused the right to do alternative service, despite a 1993 law providing for an alternative environmental service.
Amnesty International reports that there are religious COs currently imprisoned in southern Cyprus. However, they do not wish to have their names published. Many COs face repeated sentences, as they continue to refuse conscription once they are released.
Seppo Raittila
Naarajärven varavankila
PL1
76851 Naarajärvi
Finland
(in 13/06/95 -- out 30/12/95)
Total objector
A general amnesty law was passed in August 1995, following the last presidential election. The law grants an amnesty to total resisters or deserters who present themselves willingly to the authorities until 31/12/95. As the law is only starting to be enacted now, it is still unclear whether COs currently in prison (most of them Jehovah's Witnesses) will be freed or not. Total resisters usually get between a 1 month suspended sentence and 18 months in jail.
Daniel Arndt
z.Z.4./ PzArtBtl 285
Arrestzelle
Hauptstrasse 100
D-72525 Muensingen
Germany
Total objector; in 09/10/95; out 31/12/95
Greece is the only member of the European Union which has not yet recognised the right to CO. It has no alternative civilian service. Currently some 310 Jehovah's Witnesses are in prison for refusing military service, generally serving 4-year sentences.
For Jehovah's Witnesses:
"Imprisoned objectors"
c/o Thanassis Reppas (lawyer)
10 Lykourgu St
10551 Athens
Greece
The following non-religious COs are also in prison:
Nikos Karanikas
Military Prison
Pavlou Mela Camp
STG - 10002
Thessaloniki
Greece
Sentenced to 4 years on 5/10/95 in Thessaloniki. Appeal hearing scheduled for 19/12/95.
Stephanos Asimakopoulos
Avlona Military Prison
STG 910/D
190 11 Athens
Greece
Arrested in Patras on 25/10/95. Trial scheduled for 15/11/95.
A warrant has been issued against Dimitri Sotiropoulos, a member of the Association of Greek COs in Athens.
Mordechai Vanunu
Ashkelon Prison
POB 17
Ashkelon
Israel
Kidnapped in Italy in 1986, sentenced in 1988 to 18 years for exposing Israel's nuclear programme. Still in solitary confinement.
Two Jehovah's Witness COs are also currently in prison:
Jehovah's Witnesses Centre
Shapir/Naklat-Bragamin
Gruzenberg Corner
Tel-Aviv-Jaffa
Israel
Among the 36 Jehovah's Witnesses currently imprisoned are:
Wai Hung Khan
Kian Tiong Ching
Dah Yin Low
Wee Siong Lim
Ping Hun Chong
Suthintheran Nair
Robert Chok
Chong Martin Tsay
AFPN 1325
Mindef General Comcen
Singapore 669638
Singapore
Antonio Afonso (2nd)
Adolfo Fernández González (2nd)
Asier Martín (3rd)
Daniel Lorenzo López (3rd)
Pablo Sastre Alvaro (3rd)
Roberto Garcia Ramos (3rd)
C P de Villabona
Módulo 2, Finca Tabladiello
33207 Asturies
State of Spain
Fernando Mendiola Gonzalo (2nd)
Ignacio Arenal Sánchez (2nd)
Ignacio Arnal Sanchez (2nd)
José R Gómez Prieto (2nd)
Josean Sevilla Arnaiz (2nd)
Juanjo Obregón Sancho (2nd)
Mikel Osoa Olabarrieta (2nd)
Patxi Fernández Sainz (2nd)
Todor Zelaia Etxaburu (2nd)
Urko Palacios Zenarruzab (2nd)
Zigor Murgoitio Gastelurru (2nd)
Aitor Ormaetxea Zenikazelaia (3rd)
Aitor Aldekoetxea Arakistain (3rd)
Andoni Aldekoetxea Arakistain (3rd)
Andoni Zabalza lotina (3rd)
Antonio Romano Escobar (3rd)
Arturo Garcia Domínguez (3rd)
Beni Aguirrea Fuentes (3rd)
Borja Zabala González (3rd)
Daniel A Sainz Méndez (3rd)
Diego Pumar Vallejo (3rd)
Enrique Musatadi Berasaluze (3rd)
Esteban Ballestero Herrero (3rd)
Etor Etxebarria Aristi (3rd)
Gorka Iruarrizaga Barragan (3rd)
Gotzon Bedialauneta Arrizabala (3rd)
Haritz Leanizbarrutia Urizarbarrutia (3rd)
Heriberto Lago Lekue (3rd)
Ibon Irazola Kortabitarte (3rd)
Ignacio García Bermejo (3rd)
Igor Argritxona Iraurgi (3rd)
Imanol Pera Ruiz (3rd)
Iñaki Ibarra Martín (3rd)
Iñigo Goñi Bengoa (3rd)
Ismael Martínez (3rd)
Jabi Berasaluze Estrueba (3rd)
Jon J Argoitia Mendizabala (3rd)
José M Renedo Fernández (3rd)
Juan M Beaskoetxea Calero (3rd)
Juan C Cuesta Gago (3rd)
Juan Carlos Alonso Fernández (3rd)
Kirmen Uribe Urbieta (3rd)
Lino Prieto Martínez (3rd)
Luis Artola Ibarguren (3rd)
Manu Arenal Gil (3rd)
Manuel Ahedo Santiestebán (3rd)
Miguel Pérez Alvarez (3rd)
Mikel Olaetxea Amor (3rd)
Mikel Ortiz Etxebarria (3rd)
Pablo Fernández Somavilla (3rd)
Pedro Melganejo Reboso (3rd)
Sabin A Errazti Olartekoetxea (3rd)
Serafín Ruano Pin (3rd)
Unai Hernández Losada (3rd)
Unai Incera Rebolledo (3rd)
Unai Orue Rivero (3rd)
Unai Bengoetxea Ocerinjaur (3rd)
Víctor Varela Sánchez (3rd)
C P de Basauri
C/Lehendakari Aguirre 92
Basauri, Bizkaia
State of Spain
Alvaro Redondo Elizondo (2nd)
Carlos Martínez Baztán (2nd)
Adolfo Afonso Undabarria (3rd)
C P de Nanclares
Nanclares de la Oca (Araba)
State of Spain
Alfredo Liras César (2nd)
Bittor Elbusto Mazquiarán (2nd)
David Ardanaz de Carlos (2nd)
Félix Agusti Martí (2nd)
Gaizka Aranguren Urrotz (2nd)
Iñaki López Rubio (2nd)
Iñigo Rudi (2nd)
Iñigo Balbas Ruiz (2nd)
Jacinto Gómez Viniega (2nd)
Jesús Lacea Beraza (2nd)
Jesús Lecea (2nd)
Jon Márquez Roncal (2nd)
José R Ziriza Ortiz (2nd)
Juan C Lakasta Zubero (2nd)
Juan Goikoetxea (2nd)
Manuel López Montes (2nd)
Martín Celaya García (2nd)
Mikel Cormenzana (2nd)
Patxi Villares Loigorri (2nd)
Ricardo Marques Rodríguez (2nd)
Txema Baiarena (2nd)
Alberto Parrat (3rd)
Alberto Glaria (3rd)
Alex Ramírez (3rd)
Alfonso Rodrigo Ortiz (3rd)
Alfonso Etxarri (3rd)
Alfredo García Urmuoa (3rd)
Alfredo García Falces (3rd)
Alvaro Armendáriz (3rd)
Andoni Andoño (3rd)
Andrés Vergara (3rd)
Angel del Campo (3rd)
Angel Pardo (3rd)
Arturo Balbuena (3rd)
Boni Romero (3rd)
Carlos Ibáñez (3rd)
Carmelo Peña (3rd)
César Aguirre (3rd)
Cristobal López (3rd)
Cruz Aranguren (3rd)
Diego Cruces (3rd)
Eduardo Andoño (3rd)
Eduardo A Larrondo (3rd)
Ernesto Garcés (3rd)
Etor Iturko (3rd)
Félix García (3rd)
Fermín Larumbe (3rd)
Fermín Palomo Curiel (3rd)
Fernando Monasterio Ubani (3rd)
Fernando Txurruka Iza (3rd)
Fernando Vázquez González (3rd)
Fernando Txueka (3rd)
Fidel Mendía (3rd)
Francisco Ruiz Cerón (3rd)
Gorka Valez Aristu (3rd)
Igor Sanz Urra (3rd)
Igor Urra (3rd)
Iñaki Lizarbe (3rd)
Iñaki Apeztegia (3rd)
Iñaki Apestegia (3rd)
Iñigo Garmendia (3rd)
Iván Gutiérrez Gordino (3rd)
Jaime Encinas (3rd)
Javier Mendía (3rd)
Javier Navarro (3rd)
Javier Moleres (3rd)
Javier Bergara (3rd)
Jesús Moreno (3rd)
Jonás Torres (3rd)
Jorge Eseberri Eguia (3rd)
José A Martín Pérez (3rd)
José A Otxoa (3rd)
José G Fraile Ramírez (3rd)
Josetxo Garín (3rd)
Josetxo Monasterio (3rd)
Josu Salvatierra (3rd)
Josu Arizmendi (3rd)
Josu Baio (3rd)
Josu Bayo (3rd)
Juan M Almeida Domínguez (3rd)
Juan M Isturiz Asenjo (3rd)
Juan Cuella (3rd)
Juan I Olaizola (3rd)
Juan I Madariaga Coido (3rd)
Juanjo Oses Soret (3rd)
Karlos Ortiz (3rd)
Karlos Díaz (3rd)
Mario Da Silva Giménez (3rd)
Miguel A Beriain Plano (3rd)
Miguel Artola (3rd)
Miguel Azanza (3rd)
Mikel Lakasta (3rd)
Mikel Roa (3rd)
Mikel Cormenzana (3rd)
Mikel Tarifa (3rd)
Norberto Villanueva Martínez (3rd)
Oscar Ilzarbe Legaria (3rd)
Oskar Urricelqui (3rd)
Oskar Urrizelki (3rd)
Pablo J Gorriz Ayesa (3rd)
Patxi Zoroza (3rd)
Patxi Ilarraz (3rd)
Patxi Urroz (3rd)
Patxi Pascual (3rd)
Patxi Dolara (3rd)
Patxi Ilzarbe (3rd)
Pedro Zamora (3rd)
Pedro Gil (3rd)
Pedro Navarro (3rd)
Peio Ozkoidi (3rd)
Peio Ibáñez (3rd)
Rafael Rodríguez García (3rd)
Raúl Rípodas (3rd)
Ricardo Areta Urretarazu (3rd)
Roberto Navarro (3rd)
Rodrigo Casado (3rd)
Rubén Maestrojua (3rd)
Rubén Esparza Iruza (3rd)
Rubén Ciganda (3rd)
Samuel Elkoaz (3rd)
Sergio Galarza (3rd)
Txema Lampreabe (3rd)
Valentín Oses Salinas (3rd)
Vicente Romero (3rd)
Xabier León (3rd)
C P de Iruña
C/ San Roque Apdo 250
31080 Iruña
State of Spain
Carlos Ezkurra (2nd)
C P de Ocaña 1
C/ Mártires s/n Apdo 7
4530 Ocaña (Toledo)
State of Spain
Luis A Pérez Jiménez (3rd)
Oskar Bizkai (2nd)
C P Alcalá Meco 2 Apdo 1195
28880 Alcalá De Henares (Madrid)
State of Spain
Francesc Montenegro (3rd)
Juan A Guerra Ballestero (3rd)
Pere Comellas Casanova (3rd)
C P la Modelo
Apdo 20 Barcelona
State of Spain
Rafael Contreras Doña (3rd)
C P Jerez de la Frontera (Cadiz)
State of Spain
Toni Roig Navarro (3rd)
C P de Castello
Carretera de Alcora Km 10
12071 Castello
State of Spain
Antonio Liñán (3rd)
Prisión provincial de Córdoba
Apdo 479
14071 Córdoba
State of Spain
José M García Espadas (3rd)
Prisión de Herrera de la Mancha
Apdo 77, 13200 Manzanares (Ciudad Real)
State of Spain
Chabier Gimeno Montarde (2nd)
Javier Aguado Navarro (2nd)
Javier Clarimón (2nd)
José A Aliaga Cucalón (2nd)
Manuel Naudín (2nd)
Sergio Callau (2nd)
Alberto Pérez (3rd)
Alvaro Arnaiz Gómez (3rd)
César Gobernador Carreras (3rd)
Chuaquín Polo (3rd)
David Burgos (3rd)
David Grima (3rd)
David Goñi Germán (3rd)
Eduardo Campos Mora (3rd)
Emilio Burgos (3rd)
Félix Romeo (3rd)
Fermín Puertolaz (3rd)
Iñaki Mur Idoy (3rd)
José A Estebán Larrea (3rd)
José L Pueyo Serrano (3rd)
José R Zambrano (3rd)
José I Contel López (3rd)
José González (3rd)
José M Santo Tomás (3rd)
Luis Merín Flores (3rd)
Manuel Merín (3rd)
Martín Abril Esco (3rd)
Miguel Mut Signes (3rd)
Natanael Falo Alquerraz (3rd)
Rafael Martín (3rd)
Ricardo Royo (3rd)
Ronald Sandoval (3rd)
Salvador Escola (3rd)
Sergi Rodríguez (3rd)
C P de Zaragoza
Avenida de America 80
50007 Zaragoza
State of Spain
Agustín Rivas (3rd)
Aitor Landaluze Duke (3rd)
Aitor Mendizabal San Sebastián (3rd)
Alex Alberdi Izagirre (3rd)
Ander Zaldua Gesalaga (3rd)
Asier Altolagirre Irijalba (3rd)
Daniel Fernández (3rd)
David Zapirain Karrika (3rd)
Endika del Río Lobregat (3rd)
Francisco J Labaka Polo (3rd)
Gastón Loreabal Arozena (3rd)
Gorka Morenas (3rd)
Iñaki Camatxo (3rd)
Ixaka Cruz Aranguren (3rd)
Jon I Arozena Albizu (3rd)
Jon Txopeitia Uriarte (3rd)
Jon Gómez Mondragón (3rd)
José J Huizi Egileor(3rd)
José I Aduriz Azkuna (3rd)
José J Imaz Eizagirre (3rd)
José F Rodiño Rodiño (3rd)
Joseba Mintegi (3rd)
Juan C Albitro (3rd)
Juan J Martín Aparicio (3rd)
Julio Abrego (3rd)
Lutxi Arregi García (3rd)
Oskar Goñi Petrirena (3rd)
Patxi X Rojo Tolosa (3rd)
Ramón Telletxea (3rd)
Sergio Dosantos Barrutia (3rd)
Tobi Ruiz López (3rd)
Txema Mendivil (3rd)
Prisión Provincial de Martutene
20014 Donostia (Gipuzkoa)
State of Spain
Carlos Faulín (3rd)
C P de Logroño
Apdo 217 Logroño
State of Spain
Antonio Ribagorza (3rd)
Enrique Martínez San Juan (3rd)
Javier Bernal (3rd)
José Manuel (no last name given) (3rd)
José M Borrel Brito (3rd)
José Cepeda (3rd)
José A Paya Orzaes (3rd)
Julián Martínez Romo (3rd)
Ricardo Royo (3rd)
C P de Yeserías
Madrid
State of Spain
Carlos Rubén de Diego (3rd)
C P de Carabanchel
Avda de los Poblados s/n
Apdo 27007 Carabanchel (Madrid)
State of Spain
Manolo Martín (3rd)
C P de Málaga
Apdo 376 Málaga
State of Spain
Francisco Sánchez Pedreño (3rd)
Rafael Cantero Guarnido (3rd)
Prisión provincial de Murcia
Apdo 796
30833 Sangonera la Verde (Murcia)
State of Spain
Víctor Alemán (3rd)
C P Salto del Negro
Apdo 100 Tarifa Alta
35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
State of Spain
José Casquero Cabreros (3rd)
Prisión Provincial de Salamanca
Carretera Adehuela s/n, Salamanca
State of Spain
Alfons Guillén Arener (3rd)
Josep A García Arnau (3rd)
C P de Picassent
Centro de Integración Social (CIS), Apdo 1002
46225 Picassent (Valencia)
State of Spain
Fernando Oyaguez (3rd)
C P Villanubla
47071 Valladolid
State of Spain
Stephen Kelly, SJ
Susan Crane
c/o Magdalen House
528 25th St
Oakland, CA 94612
USA
Jubilee Plowshares direct disarmament with hammers of Trident nuclear missile parts, Lockheed-Martin Corp, Sunnyvale, CA, 7 August 95<|>--<|>in jail, awaiting trial for felony destruction of government property, late November 1995
John LaForge
Bayfield County Jail
117 E 6th St
Washburn, WI 54891
USA
Nonpayment of fines for repeated trespass at Project ELF, communications trigger for Trident nuclear-armed submarines<|>--<|>serving 7-1/2 months, out January 1996
Carl Kabat, OMI
North Dakota State Penitentiary
PO Box 5521
Bismarck, ND 58502
USA
Good Friday April Fool Plowshares direct disarmament of North Dakota nuclear missile silo, serving five years, beginning 1 April 1994.
At least 7 COs are currently imprisoned in the Subotica region of Vojvodina. Because they risk further harassment from the authorities, they do not want their names published. Cards of support, however, can be sent to:
Zitzer Spiritual Republic
Tresnjevac
Vojvodina
FR Yugoslavia
The Prisoners for Peace honour roll cannot include all the nonviolent social activists imprisoned in the pursuit of peace, freedom, and justice. Every year, however, WRI highlights one such struggle-this year, the focus is on nonviolent civil resistance to military rule in Nigeria.
By DOMINIQUE SAILLARD
When news of the hanging of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other Ogoni activists spread to the world's press on Saturday 11 November, almost everybody shook their head in disbelief. International campaigners who had intensified their calls for the release of the prisoners; journalists who could not believe general Abacha would act so swiftly and publicly; heads of government at the Commonwealth summit in Auckland, among them Nelson Mandela, who only the day before had refused to call for immediate sanctions, arguing that "if persuasion does not succeed it will be time enough to consider other options". Those least likely to be surprised were probably the Nigerians themselves, who over 24 years of various military regimes have seen it all.
Clearly, Ken Saro-Wiwa and his fellow members of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) were prisoners of conscience and prisoners for peace. They had chosen nonviolent civil resistance to protest against the devastation of their land by foreign and national oil companies. They were demanding more autonomy-but not independence-for the Ogoni people and were becoming an increasingly painful thorn in the side of the military junta. Their struggle, and eventually their death, had everything to do with a goal shared by all pacifists, the demilitarisation of society.
The four years of peaceful campaign against the environmental destruction of Ogoni land was met with savage repression by the Nigerian dictatorship. Human rights organisations report that since the cancellation of presidential elections in 1993 over 2000 Ogoni died during army raids on cities and villages and 30,000 people were expelled from their farms. The slaughter of civilians was usually blamed by their real instigators on inter-ethnic tensions. Environmental and pro-democracy activists from the region were also arbitrarily detained and routinely tortured.
The tensions culminated in the killing, by a mob, of four pro-government Ogoni elders in May 1994, for which Saro-Wiwa-who was nowhere near the murder scene-and other Ogoni leaders were immediately held responsible. They were detained without access to lawyers or doctors for nine months, shackled hand and foot, and repeatedly abused. The military-appointed Special Tribunal sentenced them to death in what was widely described as a judicial farce.
The main reason for such brutal handling of the protests is that MOSOP touched the army's rawest nerve-its source of cash. Nigeria derives over 90 per cent of its national income from the export of oil, and all governments have been keen to protect the vast economic interests of foreign oil companies. Leading them with a share of 50 per cent of the market is the British-Dutch Shell corporation.
Through its Nigerian sister company, Shell has been pumping oil from the Ogoni lands for the past 30 years. Far from benefitting the local economy, oil production has ruined the lives of many inhabitants by leaving a legacy of environmental disasters. The list runs from frequent oilspills-more than 220 of them have been registered on Shell facilities since 1989, spilling 1.2 million litres over the landscape-to air and water pollution and acid rain, causing respiratory deseases, cancer, and deformities.
The giant corporation has consistently refused to even consider environmental clean up operations or to pay compensation to the local population, arguing that this was the responsibility of the government. Not only that: When indigenous protests against ruthless oil drilling became too powerful, Shell called in the military governor's police for help. As they did not manage to silence the population, a special army unit moved in, causing widespread massacres.
In the wake of the nine executions, and with the international spotlight turned on Shell's shared responsibility in the repression of the Ogoni people, the company has become engaged in a frantic damage limitation exercise. But whether this will be enough to diffuse the threat of an international boycott campaign by environmental and human rights organisations remains to be seen.
Foreign governments are also trying to shore up their image by vigorously condemning general Abacha-after having stubbornly stuck to a so-called "quiet diplomacy" path for months. Nigeria's two-year suspension from the Commonwealth can only be regarded as a rather timid reprimand. Given the huge economic interests involved, the sanctions that some consider the most efficient-a trade and oil embargo-are not likely to be agreed.
The choice of the best tools for re-establishing democracy should be decided by Nigerian activists themselves, but it is clear that the pro-democracy movement now needs international support more than ever. The dismissal of trade union leaders and the arbitrary imprisonments which have followed a wave of general strikes in 1994 have taken their toll, and the opposition inside the country has grown increasingly quiet.
The scope for international action is wide. Several organisations, such as Greenpeace International, Friends of the Earth, and the Ogoni Community Association, have decided to devise a common action campaign, a fact rare enough in itself to be noteworthy.
With human rights violations continuing in Nigeria, activists should be lobbying their governments to grant asylum to the growing flow of political refugees. In Britain, for example, the number of Nigerian asylum-seekers has jumped from about 50 a month before 1993 to between 400 and 500 currently. Yet the Home Office has refused all but one of the 2032 applications processed so far this year. It appears already to be operating a de facto "white list" of "safe countries" (which includes Nigeria, Turkey and Algeria!), ahead of the announcement of new asylum legislation expected during November.
Ogoni Community Association UK, Suite 5, 3-4 Albion Place, Galena Road, Hammersmith, London W6 0LT, England (+44 1903 844 244)
Greenpeace International, Keizersgracht 176, 1016 DW Amsterdam, Netherlands (tel +31 20 523 6222; fax 523 6200)
Friends of the Earth International Secretariat, PO Box 19199, 1000 GD Amsterdam, Netherlands (tel +31 20 622 1369; fax 639 2181; e-mail foeint@xs4all.nl)
By RAFAEL SAINZ DE ROZAS
--This year will be the last. Starting next year, the Prisoners for Peace Honour Roll will not include those hundreds of Spanish names which, since 1989, have reminded us of the total resisters in jail. As laid down in the new penal code-approved on 8 November-after next May no one will be sent to prison for insumisión (total resistance to military and alternative service) in the state of Spain.
It looked as though the thousands of denunciations, international protests, and letters arriving from all over the world had produced a kind of "Mandela effect" as regards insumisión, compelling the government to give in.
But nothing could be further from the truth. Instead of going to prison, the insumisos are to face "disqualification" for anything from eight to fourteen years. Even though the situation appears to be improving, those concerned describe the new legislation as the most repressive since the end of the dictatorship-for two basic reasons.
For one thing, the punishment is itself severe: "disqualification" means deprivation of the right to receive aid from public funds. And this just when young people most need financial help, for example for housing, to study, establish a business, participate in development projects, or cope with unemployment. Moreover, they will not be allowed to get jobs that are in any way connected to public administration, whether in the education, health, social, transport, or research sectors, to name but a few. Faced with such prospect an insumiso would surely prefer to be sent to prison, for at present the length of sentence and type of prison regime can vary according to a judge's decision. [Under the third category regime-tercer grado-the prisoner only needs to sleep in the prison.]
The personal cost of this repression, while important, is nevertheless not the only cause for concern. More important, in the insumisos' opinion, is the political use which can be made of the government's repression depending on the type of punishment. It might be wise to consider the conclusions reached at the WRI Triennial in Brazil by the working group on conscientious objection: that our struggle should not concentrate exclusively on ending the repression of war resisters, but should, above all, ensure that their gesture has some political bearing on the demilitarisation of society as a whole.
This is why conscientious objectors in the State of Spain
opted for insumisión, which of course led to repression. And they knew it would. But this was precisely what they were trying to achieve: punishment which they knew would not get popular support. For they believed that any such attempted repression would cause so much scandal that, not only would the repression be very difficult to implement, but also it would have a vitally important effect: that the represssion of COs would lose its legitimacy, inevitably leading to the de-legitimisation of the law which had been broken.
It is essential to know about the strategic use that has been made of the repression total resisters can face, if one is to understand their behaviour and the reasons why the government has changed the law. Using a classical political defence, the insumisos were intent on placing militarism itself in the dock at their own trials. This led the government to rapidly transfer the cases from the military to the civil courts. Sensitivity to the rules of democracy? No, mere political expediency-an attempt to prevent the army's image being tarnished by having to judge pacifists in military tribunals.
The insumisos may have managed to create a social solidarity network which has helped to alleviate the personal impact of imprisonment, but the government is now determined that society itself take on the role of the state and reject those who commit civil disobedience, by hindering them from working and denying them any kind of help: "If you don't cooperate with the state, you can't expect the state to cooperate with you."
In short, as the insumisos had managed to present the imprisoned war resister as a symbol of the struggle for peace, the government now needed to devise a form of repression which would deter, but would not be visible, and would not have the symbolic and emotional impact of imprisonment.
This is the situation which the peace movement now faces in the State of Spain
. Fresh approaches are being considered, such as objecting after already being recruited into the armed forces, which would mean imprisonment under military law. Most of the public sector trade unions have already indicated their willingness to help reduce the severity of "disqualification" as much as possible. Moreover there is nothing to suggest that the duration of the "disqualification" will not continue to vary depending on the court concerned.
Paradoxically, there is no reason to be pleased about the release of the insumisos. Or is there? For what has persuaded the government to change the law has actually been insumisión's ability to use repression to promote the demilitarisation of society. The forms of the repression may have changed; but our shared objective remains immutable.
KEM-MOC, Iturribide 12-1 D, E-48006 Bilbao, Euskal Herria, state of Spain (+34 4 415 3772; fax 412 9222)
English text: Agatha Haun and Pat Arrowsmith
Conscientious objection is a constitutional right in Paraguay, but the fact that there are now around 600 COs seems to bother the military. On 4 November, 18-year-old objector César Barrios was on his way to Pirapey, 110km from Encarnación, to give a workshop on CO.
César - a member of the conscientious objection group MOC-was travelling at the request of the family of Victor Hugo Maciel, a conscript who had been killed by the army in October. Other families in the village no longer wished to send their young men to do their compulsory military service, and they sought more information on the legal right to conscientious objection.
At around 7 pm, the bus was stopped by an unmarked military patrol. They asked to see the papers of all the people. César Barrios, a member of the Paraguayan conscientious objectors' movement MOC, showed his identity card, but the soldiers wanted to see his military papers. César told them he was a CO and showed them a document of the Human Rights Commission of the Deputies Chamber, testifying to his status. One of the soldiers read it, then destroyed it in the front of all the passenger. He violently pushed César out of the bus and into a Toyota van, where he was blindfolded, handcuffed, and driven three or four hours to a military barracks.
Once there, César was dumped in a small, dirty bathroom and made to inhale a sleep-inducing gas. They kicked him in the stomach and back. After that, five young soldiers came in, completly naked, and began to insult him, saying he was gay; that all COs were homosexuals or prostitutes; that they would teach him to be a good macho and that they would rape him. Meanwhile, they were masturbating themselves.
They burned his T-shirt-which had a CO slogan-and then ran a knife over his throat, ears, nose and so on, asking him about the activities of MOC, about the leaders of MOC, phone numbers, and addresses (he gave false answers). With the knife, the military cut his hair. He stayed lying down the ground all day, and at night managed to escape with the help from someone in the barracks. Once out, he verified that he had been at the III Mounted Division in Ciudad del Este.
Without money (the military stole all his belongings), César finally found his way to Asunción the next morning. He is the seventh CO to have been kidnapped by the army in recent years.
MOC Paraguay is asking international supporters to send faxes, letters and take other actions calling for a full investigation of this case; to find those responsible for the kidnapping and torture of César Barrios; and asking for the safety and security of COs and members of MOC to:
Presidente del Congreso Nacional Senor Milciades Rafael Casabianca, Av. Republica y 14 de Mayo, Asunción, Paraguay (fax 595 21 443094) and to any Paraguayan Embassy
MOC, c/o SERPAJ, Azara 313 y c/Iturbe, 2» piso, Asunción, Paraguay (tel/fax +595 21 446722; email hugo@serpaj.una.py)
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