CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS TO BE CELEBRATED ON 15 MAY 2007

AT THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION COMMEMORATIVE STONE

TAVISTOCK SQUARE, BLOOMSBURY, LONDON

These are 69 representative Conscientious Objectors, chosen on the basis of one each from as many countries as could be found. In the case of some countries, more than one CO is named, to represent different regimes. For some, a great deal more information could be provided; in the case of others not much more is known than is recorded here.

Angola - Emanuel Matondo, recent CO

Argentina – Ignacio Alonso, one of five who made a public presentation of CO, August 1993

Armenia – Vahan Bayatyan, imprisoned 30 months, 2006

Armenia – Nagorno-Karabakh, Areg Avanesyan, imprisoned 4 years, 2005

Australia – Philip Hancox, imprisoned 6 months, 1943

Austria – Anschluss – Franz Jagerstatter, beheaded, 9 August 1943

Austria – Post 1945 – Peter Burtscher, in military detention before being recognised, 1987

Belarus - Valentin Gulai, recent CO

Belgium – Joris Kennes, imprisoned 4 times, 1930s

 

Bermuda – Hassan Shakir, objected, 1996

Britain – Joseph Brett, imprisoned WW1, provided original inspiration for the CO Stone

Bulgaria - Hristo Ivancev, imprisoned 3 years, 1933, and died, 1938, of TB aggravated by imprisonment

Canada - John Evans, imprisoned in Britain, 1918

Chile - Michel Nash, shot by firing squad for refusing to shoot dissidents condemned by the Pinochet regime

Colombia – Andres Daniel Giraldo, recent COi

Cyprus - Greek – Yiannis Parpas, imprisoned 1 year, 1988

Cyprus - Turkish – Salih Askerogul, imprisoned 3 years, 3 months, 1993

Czechoslovakia - Jan Hrabina, 30 months military detention, 1981

Denmark – Erik Hansen, imprisoned 15 months, 1936

Eritrea – Negade Teklemariam, imprisoned without trial since 1994

Finland – Kaj Raninen, imprisoned 9 times as total resister, 1990s

France – Daniel Besse, imprisoned 6 months, 1979

Georgia – Kakhaber Galashvili, imprisoned 16 months, 1996

Germany – Hermann Abke, beheaded, 17 July 1944

East Germany – Michael Mai, objected, 1989

West Germany – Holger Haag, imprisoned 7 months, 1979

Greece – Georgios Gkogkas, imprisoned 4 years 10 months, and 5 years loss of civil rights, 1979

Hungary – Zsolt Keszthelyi, imprisoned 3 years, 1987

Israel – Abram Sinon, imprisoned, 1979

Italy – Massimo Mura, imprisoned, 1980

 

Kazakhstan - Roman Grechko, imprisoned 6 months, 1994

Latvia – Kurt Dering, objected, 1936

Lithuania – Juozas Petrulis, imprisoned 7 years, 1930s

Netherlands – Jan Nico Tinbergen, 1921, later Nobel Economics laureate

New Caledonia – Gilbert Vaialimoa, imprisoned 4 months before recognition, 1989

New Zealand – Ian Hamilton, imprisoned 5 years, 1939

Norway – Jan Otto Nilsen, imprisoned 3 months 1990, and 3 months , 1992

Paraguay – Pablo Maria Angelo Guanes, one of four who made a public presentation of CO, September 1993

Philippines – Lagman, objected 1966

Poland – Darlusz Matczak, imprisoned 1 year, 1993

Portugal – Paulo Mil-Homens de Matros, objected, 1977

Puerto Rico – Philip Howard, arrested, 1949

Rhodesia - Cedric Wildman, fined £15, 1953

Roman Empire - Maximilianus, beheaded, Thevesta, north Africa, 12 Mar 295

Romania - Alexandro Tihon, 5 sentences of 2 years each, 1920s-30s

Russia – Vadim Hesse, imprisoned 40 days, 1996

Serbia – Nenad, objected as serving soldier in Kosovo, 1999

Slovakia – Erik Kratmueller, imprisoned, 1996

Somalia – Saeed Mohamed, imprisoned, 1984

South Africa – Peter Moll, imprisoned 12 months, 1979

South Korea – Choi Myung-jin, imprisoned 18 months, 2004

South West Africa – Rashid Rooinasie, 1987

Spain – Pello Maria Amillano, imprisoned 28 months, 1993

Spain - Basque country – Genar Felix Franquesa, arrested, 1979

Spain – Canary Islands – Juan Ignacio Enriquez, imprisoned 28 months, 1993

Sweden - Per Johann Klasse, objected, 1980s

Switzerland – Gregoire Flaux, imprisoned 8 months, 1993

Turkey – Feti Demirtas, imprisoned 9 times, 2005-07

Turkmenistan – Kurban Zakirov, re-imprisoned 8 years, 2000

Ukraine – Glebo Malcev, sought CO asylum in Latvia, 1993

USA – Gillam Kerley, imprisoned 3 years and fined $10,000, 1987

USSR – Chechnya – Anatoly Zhuk, detained in psychiatric hospital, 1988

USSR – Estonia – Aarne Helder, 2 years forced labour, 1988

USSR – Kazakhstan – Evgeny Fogel, imprisoned 2 years, 1982, and 3 years, 1986

USSR - Kirgistan – Evgeny Gotte, imprisoned 3 years, 1986

USSR – Lithuania – Petras Grazulis, 10 months in forced labour camp, 1988

USSR – Russia – Pavel Davidovich Schreider, 3 years military detention, 1979

USSR – Ukraine – Sergei Osnach, 18 months forced labour, 1991

Yugoslavia – Dusan Katanovic, imprisoned 9 years, 1963

 

Bill Hetherington

May 2007

Sources: AI, EBCO, PPU, WRI, WRL

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