ISR12053-150802
15 August 2002

ISRAEL: CO Victor Sabranski's fifth prison term

Conscientious objector Victor Sabranski (ISR12053) was imprisoned for the fifth time last Sunday (11 August). He was again sentenced to 28 days, after having spent 98 days in prison already.
Victor Sabranski was first imprisoned for 28 days on 26 April. After his release on 19 May, he was again sentenced on 23 May, and released on 17 June. A third prison term - from 23 June to 18 July - followed. He then was imprisoned for a fourth time - for 14 days - and is now serving his fifth prison term.

It is normal practice in Israel that conscientious objectors are sent to the Incompatibility Committee after having spent a total of 90 days in prison. Normally they are then exempted from military service. However, in Victor Sabranski's case this didn't happen, and he was again sent to prison for a further 28 days - all without trial and legal representation.

Sergeiy Sandler from New Profile writes: "It appears that the reason is an arbitrary decision by a particular officer in the Induction Base in Tel-Hashomer, who simply decided not to send Victor to that Committee. Sadly, this officer has the authority to keep objectors going back to prison for as long as he likes. It also seems likely that a pattern discriminating against immigrants from the former USSR (akin to the pattern of discrimination against the Druse) was at work here. Consistently, only immigrants and Druse soldiers always spend more time in prison than the rest."

The Working Group on Arbitrary Detention of the UN Commission on Human Rights declared in an opinion relating to the repeated imprisonment of a Turkish conscientious objector, that this is a case of arbitrary detention (OPINION No. 36/1999 - ECN.4.2001.14.Add.1). The same applies to the repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors in Israel.

War Resisters' International calls for letters of support to Victor Sabranski:
Victor Sabranski
Mil ID 7312440
Military Prison No 4
Military postal code 02507
IDF, Israel

(He is likely to be transferred to Military prison No 6 on Tuesday: Military postal code 01860, IDF, Israel)

War Resisters' International especially calls for letters of protest to the commander of the Military Induction Base in Tel-Hashomer, citing the decision of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention:
Deborah Chassid
Commander of Induction Base, Tel-Hashomer
Military Postal Code 02718
IDF, Israel
Fax: +972-3-7376052

War Resisters' International calls for the immediate release of Victor Sabranski and all imprisoned conscientious objectors.

Andreas Speck
War Resisters' International

ADDRESSES
=========

Mr. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer,
Minister of Defence,
Ministry of Defence,
37 Kaplan st.,
Tel-Aviv 61909,
Israel.
e-mail: mailto: sar@mod.gov.il or mailto: pniot@mod.gov
Fax: ++972-3-696-27-57 / ++972-3-691-69-40 / ++972-3-691-79-15

Commander of Military Prison No. 4,
Military Postal Code 02507
IDF, Israel
Fax: ++972-3-957-52-76

Commander of Military Prison No 6
Military Prison No 6
Military postal number 01860,
IDF
Israel.
FAX: ++972-4-869-28-84

Addresses of Israeli media:
Ma'ariv:
2 Karlibach st.
Tel-Aviv 67132
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-561-06-14
e-mail:  editor@maariv.co.il

Yedioth Aharonoth:
2 Moses st.
Tel-Aviv
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-608-25-46

Ha'aretz (Hebrew):
21 Schocken st.
Tel-Aviv, 61001
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-681-00-12

Ha'aretz (English edition):
21 Schocken st.
Tel-Aviv, 61001
Israel
Fax: ++972-3-512-11-56
e-mail:  letters@haaretz.co.il

Jerusalem Post:
POB 81
Jerusalem 91000
Israel
Fax: ++972-2-538-95-27
e-mail:  news@jpost.co.il or  letters@jpost.co.il

Jerusalem Report:
Fax: ++972-2-537-94-89

Radio (fax numbers):
Kol-Israel ++972-2-531-33-15 and ++972-3-694-47-09
Galei Tzahal ++972-3-512-67-20

Television (fax numbers):
Channel 1 ++972-2-530-15-36
Channel 2 ++972-2-533-98-09