Press Release

Russian conscientious objector leader Alexander Belik in Italy
Movimento Nonviolento and Un Ponte Per are hosting conscientious objector Alexander Belik, coordinator of the Russian Conscientious Objectors Movement. An appointment to meet the voice of the other Russia, the one that refuses to take up arms.

Rome, 15 December 2022 - Exactly 50 years after the approval of the Marcora law, which introduced the right to conscientious objection in Italy, a press conference was held yesterday by Alexander Belik, coordinator of the Russian Conscientious Objectors Movement. A movement born in Russia in 2014. The event was organised by the pacifist associations Movimento Nonviolento and Un Ponte Per, committed in recent months to supporting Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian objectors. Present were Mao Valpiana and Daniele Taurino from the Nonviolent Movement and Alfio Nicotra, co-president of Un Ponte Per.

During the conference Alexander Belik recounted his experience supporting the many young Russians who oppose the invasion of Ukraine and refuse to take up arms. He started with the numbers: 'around 20,000 people have been arrested in Russia for anti-war activism. Some end up in forced labour camps for objectors, in inhuman conditions, others remain in hiding for fear of arrest and persecution. Over time the 'prison camps' - according to the activist, present in the occupied Ukrainian territories, ed - have increased, despite the fact that they are illegal under Russian and international law'.

In recent months, the ranks of the Russian Objectionist Movement have grown tenfold, reaching around 15 thousand online contacts, "an extraordinary result, and who knows how many people remain silent, hidden, for fear of persecution," Belik commented. "The right to object to military conscription was recognised in Russia in 1993, but it is hardly admitted in practice and there is strong social pressure stigmatising this right."

Alexander Belik's movement mainly carries out legal, psychological and informational consultations for those who want to avoid compulsory conscription, 'we try to support those who do not want to answer the draft, because it is their right even if they are often unaware of it'. According to Belik, Putin continues to harass people in the separatist republics of Donetsk and Luhansk even with the huge military mobilisation, 'all men of working age in these areas are called to arms'.

The Russian activist concluded the conference with an appeal: 'One of the things European civil society can do to support anti-war activists is to sign the "Object War" petition to recognise the right to conscientious objection in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, granting asylum to those fleeing compulsory conscription'.

You can sign the petition at www.unponteper.it and www.azionenonviolenta.it.