A/HRC/45/CRP.8A/HRC/45/CRP.8 fined but, on appeal in June 2020, the Supreme Court of Crimea changed his sentence to six years in prison. Another Jehovah’s Witness from Dzhankoi was convicted and sentenced to a term in prison (see box below). 114. Military draft offices in Crimea denied the requests of male Jehovah’s Witnesses to carry out alternative civilian service in place of military service in exercise of their right to conscientious objection. In one case, a 17-year-old boy from Dzhankoi received a conscription notice during the spring 2020 conscription campaign, despite his application for alternative civilian service. The military draft commission considered the application during a pro-forma four-minute-long hearing and concluded that the applicant “failed to demonstrate sufficient reasons that his moral and ethical beliefs are incompatible with military service”, without any explanation of their reasoning.102 115. The UN Human Rights Committee has held that article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights entails the right to conscientious objection for persons whose religious beliefs are incompatible with military service. 103 The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Jehovah’s Witnesses enjoy the right to conscientious objection to military service.104 Under international humanitarian law, military conscription of protected persons is prohibited.105 The first imprisonment of a Jehovah’s Witness in Crimea Serhii Filatov, a resident of Dzhankoi, became the first Jehovah’s Witness in Crimea to be sentenced to a prison term for manifesting his religious beliefs. The FSB accused him of running an extremist organization after searching his house on 15 November 2018. Mr. Filatov’s son had been taken from a friend’s house by a large group of law enforcement officers without any explanation. One officer hit his son on the head for trying to film his actions on camera. Another later voiced a threat of a sexual nature. The officers drove Mr. Filatov’s son to his home, handcuffed him inside until the arrival of his parents, and searched the house. The law enforcement officers ignored his son’s requests to call a lawyer. The FSB charged Mr. Filatov with holding a religious gathering at his home with other Jehovah’s Witnesses, including his own family, during which they studied and discussed the Bible and other religious texts, sang religious songs, and prayed. On 5 March 2020, the court found Mr. Filatov guilty of extremism, sentenced him to six years in prison and placed restrictions on him expressing his opinions, including through social media, speaking in public and publishing material in the media. The court endorsed the opinions of religious and linguistic experts who analysed the content of Mr. Filatov’s conversations and concluded that “Jehovah’s Witnesses” were referred to “in a positive light,” without going into further detail. The court made no attempt to independently assess the extremist nature of religious practices by Mr. Filatov or evaluate how the alleged criminal activity correlates with freedom of religion guaranteed under Russian Federation laws applied in Crimea. Since his arrest on 5 March, Mr. Filatov’s family were only allowed to visit him in detention once,106 due to the blanket prohibition on family visits imposed in the Simferopol SIZO as a COVID-19 prevention measure. After an unsuccessful appeal in June 2020, Mr. Filatov was deported to the Russian Federation to serve his sentence. The authorities did not inform the family of 102 103 104 105 106 As of 20 July, the applicant was not yet conscripted into the military service and planned to challenge the refusal. Human Rights Committee, Yeo-Bum Yoon v. Republic of Korea,. CCPR/C/88/D/1321-1322/2004, 23 January 2007, para. 8.4. European Court of Human Rights, Bayatyan v. Armenia, application No. 23459/03, judgment of 7 July 2011, para. 111. Geneva Convention IV, art. 51. As of 23 July. 29