Update: 23 March 2026. Quaker and conscientious objector Yurii Sheliazhenko has been released from military custody in Ukraine after being forcibly detained last Thursday. Yurii was beaten, pepper-sprayed, dragged by his feet and hair and humiliated during his detention.
Peace activist Yurii Sheliazhenko was abducted by the Ukrainian police on Thursday 19 March, according to the peace organizations World BEYOND War and the International Peace Bureau. Yurii Sheliazhenko, PhD, is a Member of the Board of Directors of World BEYOND War. He is based in Ukraine. He is also executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, a board member of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection, and a council member of the International Peace Bureau.
On March 19, representatives of the Pechersk District Police in Kyiv, along with an individual claiming to be a TCR (Territorial Center of Recruitment) officer, illegally detained Yurii Sheliazhenko. Yurii managed to call his lawyer, but the officers did not wait for the lawyer’s arrival. This was reported by World Beyond War.
Together with Yurii, I co-authored an opinion piece in the Nederland’s Dagblad on the importance of achieving peace through non-violent means in Ukraine. We also published a letter in the NRC Handelsblad prior to Russia’s invasion, entitled ‘Ukraine crisis: Keep investing in inclusive peace dialogue’.
On Friday 13 March, I attended an online press conference held by the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine. In their report, they examine in detail, amongst other things, the abduction of Ukrainian children by Russia and the Russian army’s disregard for human life. They also describe how recruits from various countries are being recruited into the Russian army under false pretenses.
Finally, the Commission documented violations reported during mobilization for the Ukrainian armed forces. These include irregular administrative detention, lack of access to a lawyer, and hurried examinations by military medical commissions that ignore possible underlying medical issues. Instances of violence have been recorded against conscientious objectors, who were taken by force to recruitment centers and military bases, regardless of expressed readiness to carry out alternative civil service. The full summary of the report can be found here on the website of Peace SOS.
I hope that Yurii and other conscientious objectors are being treated well and that they are released soon. They must be granted access to their lawyer. And I believe that the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the EU should urge their ally Ukraine to ensure this. Ukraine must take the report of the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine to heart, and it is up to Ukraine’s allies to draw attention to this. Russia, too, must take the UN Commission of Inquiry’s report to heart. Furthermore, I continue to advocate for peace through peaceful means in Ukraine and other countries where there is war. We must invest in diplomacy. While looking after one another.
I would like to conclude with the words that Yurii and I wrote earlier in an opinion piece; the final sentence is Yurii’s: Above all, we hope that life will once again be respected and that people in need will receive humanitarian aid. May world leaders unite for peace, to end hunger and to combat global warming. May love and truth be the greatest forces uniting East and West.
Author: May-May Meijer
PS World BEYOND War has launched a petition addressed to the Ukrainian government calling for Yurii’s release. You can find a link to the petition here.
Photo: Yurii Sheliazhenko
Note: This article was first published in Dutch under the title Nederland en EU, help de Oekrainse vredesactivist Yurii Sheliazhenko te bevrijden on the Joop BNNVARA website on 20th March 2026.