A few days ago, the Berlin Administrative Court issued two rulings granting subsidiary protection to Russian conscripts. By doing so, the Administrative Court challenged a landmark decision issued by the OVG Berlin-Brandenburg in November. “This is a truly remarkable development. It has been recognized that Russian conscripts are indeed at risk of being recruited into the Russian army to fight in the war in Ukraine,” explained Rudi Friedrich, Executive Director of Connection e.V., today. “This protection must now be extended to Russian conscientious objectors who can be called up as reservists.”
In one of the two detailed decisions, the Berlin Administrative Court stated that the 19-year-old Russian conscript in question has a “real risk” to be called up for basic military service in the Russian army in Russia “against his will and sent to the war in Ukraine, where he had to expect to be forced to participate in a war of aggression contrary to international law and acts contrary to international law and/or human rights or to suffer serious harm to life and body.” The Magdeburgand Würzburg Administrative Courts had already ruled similarly.
In its decision, the court refers to current statements by Russian conscientious objection organizations, which highlight the fact that the recruitment methods used in Russia are considered to be particularly harsh, abusive, and largely illegal. In addition, the existing right to conscientious objection to military service can hardly be enforced and people in the alternative service can be called up to serve in the military. “Conscripts who invoke a possible anti-war stance to justify their refusal also run the risk of being prosecuted for ’discrediting the army’ or similar offenses.”
The court explained that following the annexation of the occupied Ukrainian territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia by Russia, “from the Russian point of view – and at the same time, in violation of international law”, these territories “are domestic territory and conscripts can in principle be deployed there immediately after being called up.” This also applies to occupied Crimea.
“We continue to stress a strong need for political and judicial action to protect Russian conscripts,” says Rudi Friedrich. “This must also include all those who can no longer be called up for one-year military service but can still be called up as reservists due to the partial mobilization still in force. So far, this group has generally been rejected by the Federal Office for Migration.” Connection e.V. explained this in detail in an analysis in November 2024 and recommended that the obligation under international law for conscripts to refuse to participate in a war that violates international law should also lead to them receiving refugee protection.
“This is an important change in the German judiciary’s approach to conscientious objectors from Russia,” adds Artyom Klyga, head of the legal department of the Movement for Conscientious Objection Russia. “We see that in other European countries, too, the courts are gradually recognizing the right of Russian conscientious objectors to protection. This is a positive development. I hope that these decisions will help to create a separate humanitarian system to support this group of people. We need a firm legal basis for conscientious objectors. They must be assured that their stance against the war will be genuinely supported.”
