Feb. 22, 2000

Brno, Czech Republic ... [ANN]

In a decision hailed as an affirmation of the Czech Republic’s new era of religious freedom, the country’s highest court has acquitted a Seventh-day Adventist who refused the military draft because of his religious convictions. The February 10 ruling is the latest in a series of almost 20 Supreme Court decisions canceling or commuting sentences passed against religiously motivated “draft dodgers” during the Communist and early post-Communist regimes.

Radomir Vojnar, who was sentenced to an 18-month prison term in the late 1970’s, has been acquitted of all convictions relating to his refusal to participate in the state-mandated military draft.  In handing down its decision, the Czech Supreme Court ruled that, even under the pre-1989 Communist Constitution, Vojnar should have been protected from state coercion that violated his religious beliefs.
 
Also among the cases reviewed by the Supreme Court was that of Adventist Church member Jan Kloda, now 73. Kloda was tried and sentenced on three separate occasions in the early 1950’s for his refusal to serve in the Czech army, and he served two separate prison terms.
 
The Czech Republic does not have a standing army, so it requires all able-bodied male citizens to participate in some form of military service. With its recent line of decisions, however, the Supreme Court has given substance to the long-standing, but rarely upheld, constitutional provision protecting religiously motivated conscientious objectors. [Bettina Krause] 

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