Interview with Mark Romankov, conscientious objector from Russia
Mark Romankov, aged 22, had attended university in Germany for some prior to 2022. It was during the days just before the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops that he returned to Germany – and sought asylum just there soon after.
Mexico: "The country under weapons" where the enemy can be a citizen
Mexico is a country at war. Sometimes the authorities have openly taken the banner of war, and others, like the current administration, a speech of pacification. "El País Bajo Armas” (The country under weapons) is a journalistic investigation focusing on the use of lethal force by the Army, the police, and the power that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador granted to the military. Mexico's first leftist president has made the Army more powerful than ever. It is not only a militarization of public security issues but also of militarism by granting power to the military institutions that previously belonged to the civilian field.
Escape from Russia: What we can currently say
Since Russia’s ruler Putin declared a partial mobilisation for the war against Ukraine, men and women who want to flee the country out of fear of military service and state repression have been contacting PRO ASYL by the minute. This is the information we can currently give to those affected.
Azerbaijan: Conscientious objector jailing "very unexpected decision"
On 22 September, a Goranboy court jailed 22-year-old Jehovah's Witness Seymur Mammadov for nine months for refusing compulsory military service on conscientious grounds. On 25 July – two days after his 18th birthday – officers seized conscientious objector Royal Karimov and forcibly took him to a military unit in Ganca, where he is still held.