Yet Another Conscription Update
This is simply another short update on conscription. In my two previous posts on the topic I covered developments regarding the proposed legislation two remove the special exemption from military service given to Jehovah's Witnesses and the parliaments Constitutional Committee giving it's support to it. Since then, another committee, this time the Defense Committee has reviewed the bill. Apart from this, there has been discussion what actually happens to all those total objectors who have been released by court, because it's not as clear as might seem.
Not surprisingly, the Defense Committee supports the proposed bill. I'm not even a little shocked. I've made multiple posts on this topic and pointed out multiple times how blatantly Finnish politicians ignore Finland's commitments to human rights when it comes to this topic. Basically this means that the bill is now ready to go for a vote in parliament, which like I've pointed out, it's guaranteed to pass. After passing, the bill is scheduled to take effect "as soon as possible", meaning JW's can be forced into service and that total objectors sentenced to jail some time this Spring. It's really a matter of when the vote will happen.
Now to the other topic: what happens to total objectors who have already been released by court? It seems obvious: they've been released and are thus exempt from service, right? Well not exactly. You see, the law regarding this not only obligates the military and the Civil Service Center, again depending on the type of service, to report anybody who refuses service to the police, it also obligates them to send these people a second order to start their service if the charges against them are dropped. In other words, the Civil Service Center is currently sending call up letters to people who have already refused service once and have been released by courts. And if these people refuse service again, the Civil Service Center will also report these people to the police yet again. This could theoretically lead to another investigation and another court case against the person. And even if the police decide not to investigate or press charges, the Civil Service Center will send the person another call up letter and refusal will once again lead to a police report and so on and so on until the person is too old to start their service.
The situation is already pretty absurd, but it becomes even more absurd once you realize that these repeated police reports are most likely not gonna lead to anything. This is because of a legal principle, known as "Non bis in idem", which basically means a person can't be tried for multiple times for the same action. In this case, since the person has already been released by a court once after their original refusal to serve, the court can't give them a jail sentence for the new charges on the same issue. So essentially, the repeated refusal to serve in response to the repeated call ups is seen as a continuation of the original refusal. On this issue, we actually have a precedent case from the Finnish Supreme Court.
The case involved a a man who had received an initially been given a delay on starting his service because of his studies, during which he had been baptized as a Jehovah's Witness and had applied for the special exemptions given to JW's in 2009, only to be rejected on the grounds that he had made the application after the age of 25, which is legally the latest point for the application to be made. He was ordered to start his service in January 2010 and on the day he was due to start his service, he showed up at the garrison where he was supposed to start his service and informed the officials there about his refusal to serve based on his religion. He claimed that as a Jehovah's Witness he never had the intention to serve in the military or civil service, but that he had failed to apply for an exemption in time due to a mistake as he wasn't aware of the age restriction. In court he was successful at defending himself and the court decided to release him. He was then called up again and when he was due to start his service in July 2011 and this repeated. He refused to serve based on his religion, charges were brought up against lift and the court again released him, this time also sighting the previous case, saying the man's second refusal was a continuation of the original one and thus they couldn't convict him since he had been released that time. This time the prosecutor appealed the case and the appeals court decided in favor of the prosecution. This led the man take the case to the Supreme Court which in 2015 decided that the man had if fact been unfairly imprisoned since he had once already been released.
So again, the new call ups shouldn't lead to anything. It's essentially just a massive waste of time and resources to go through with this. Even after the the JW exemption is removed it shouldn't have any affect on these people as at that point you would be applying a law retroactively, which would be questionable to say the least. This should also mean that people who have refused service but haven't been released by court should be fine as well as long as they refused while the exemption was still enforced as it currently still is. This is also supported in the Defense Committees statement on the bill in which they urge authorities not to apply this law retroactively.
That being said, the Finnish judicial system isn't really known for doing the right thing when it comes to this topic, so the Union of Conscientious Objectors has given advice to those receiving new call ups in order for them to avoid problems. For one, they should try to do everything the same way they did originally, as an example, by using same arguments for their decision. That way they can make a stronger case that the "new" refusal is simply a continuation of the original one and it's more likely to avoid charges. The Union also offers legal help for total objectors, so if the case goes forward they should keep them updated so they can help you more effectively. And if the person ends up getting sentenced, they should appeal the case and go all the way up to the Supreme Court. If that doesn't help, go international take the case to the European Court of Human Rights or the UN Human Rights Committee.
So in summary, exemption for JW's is soon gone which also means total objectors will be given jail sentences once again. The people who have refused service during this state of legal limbo should be fine, although it's still a bit unclear. That being said, this is ultimately nothing more than a way to delay the inevitable. More and more people are aware of the human rights violations and the blatant way the Finnish government is trying to hide them. Even though these developments are going to the wrong direction, it will ultimately help create more pressure for change.
Not surprisingly, the Defense Committee supports the proposed bill. I'm not even a little shocked. I've made multiple posts on this topic and pointed out multiple times how blatantly Finnish politicians ignore Finland's commitments to human rights when it comes to this topic. Basically this means that the bill is now ready to go for a vote in parliament, which like I've pointed out, it's guaranteed to pass. After passing, the bill is scheduled to take effect "as soon as possible", meaning JW's can be forced into service and that total objectors sentenced to jail some time this Spring. It's really a matter of when the vote will happen.
Now to the other topic: what happens to total objectors who have already been released by court? It seems obvious: they've been released and are thus exempt from service, right? Well not exactly. You see, the law regarding this not only obligates the military and the Civil Service Center, again depending on the type of service, to report anybody who refuses service to the police, it also obligates them to send these people a second order to start their service if the charges against them are dropped. In other words, the Civil Service Center is currently sending call up letters to people who have already refused service once and have been released by courts. And if these people refuse service again, the Civil Service Center will also report these people to the police yet again. This could theoretically lead to another investigation and another court case against the person. And even if the police decide not to investigate or press charges, the Civil Service Center will send the person another call up letter and refusal will once again lead to a police report and so on and so on until the person is too old to start their service.
The situation is already pretty absurd, but it becomes even more absurd once you realize that these repeated police reports are most likely not gonna lead to anything. This is because of a legal principle, known as "Non bis in idem", which basically means a person can't be tried for multiple times for the same action. In this case, since the person has already been released by a court once after their original refusal to serve, the court can't give them a jail sentence for the new charges on the same issue. So essentially, the repeated refusal to serve in response to the repeated call ups is seen as a continuation of the original refusal. On this issue, we actually have a precedent case from the Finnish Supreme Court.
The case involved a a man who had received an initially been given a delay on starting his service because of his studies, during which he had been baptized as a Jehovah's Witness and had applied for the special exemptions given to JW's in 2009, only to be rejected on the grounds that he had made the application after the age of 25, which is legally the latest point for the application to be made. He was ordered to start his service in January 2010 and on the day he was due to start his service, he showed up at the garrison where he was supposed to start his service and informed the officials there about his refusal to serve based on his religion. He claimed that as a Jehovah's Witness he never had the intention to serve in the military or civil service, but that he had failed to apply for an exemption in time due to a mistake as he wasn't aware of the age restriction. In court he was successful at defending himself and the court decided to release him. He was then called up again and when he was due to start his service in July 2011 and this repeated. He refused to serve based on his religion, charges were brought up against lift and the court again released him, this time also sighting the previous case, saying the man's second refusal was a continuation of the original one and thus they couldn't convict him since he had been released that time. This time the prosecutor appealed the case and the appeals court decided in favor of the prosecution. This led the man take the case to the Supreme Court which in 2015 decided that the man had if fact been unfairly imprisoned since he had once already been released.
So again, the new call ups shouldn't lead to anything. It's essentially just a massive waste of time and resources to go through with this. Even after the the JW exemption is removed it shouldn't have any affect on these people as at that point you would be applying a law retroactively, which would be questionable to say the least. This should also mean that people who have refused service but haven't been released by court should be fine as well as long as they refused while the exemption was still enforced as it currently still is. This is also supported in the Defense Committees statement on the bill in which they urge authorities not to apply this law retroactively.
That being said, the Finnish judicial system isn't really known for doing the right thing when it comes to this topic, so the Union of Conscientious Objectors has given advice to those receiving new call ups in order for them to avoid problems. For one, they should try to do everything the same way they did originally, as an example, by using same arguments for their decision. That way they can make a stronger case that the "new" refusal is simply a continuation of the original one and it's more likely to avoid charges. The Union also offers legal help for total objectors, so if the case goes forward they should keep them updated so they can help you more effectively. And if the person ends up getting sentenced, they should appeal the case and go all the way up to the Supreme Court. If that doesn't help, go international take the case to the European Court of Human Rights or the UN Human Rights Committee.
So in summary, exemption for JW's is soon gone which also means total objectors will be given jail sentences once again. The people who have refused service during this state of legal limbo should be fine, although it's still a bit unclear. That being said, this is ultimately nothing more than a way to delay the inevitable. More and more people are aware of the human rights violations and the blatant way the Finnish government is trying to hide them. Even though these developments are going to the wrong direction, it will ultimately help create more pressure for change.
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