Yesterday, the Munich Administrative Court informed counsel for the AWOL U.S. soldier André Shepherd, attorney Reinhard Marx, that the hearing on his asylum application scheduled for next Wednesday has been cancelled. The Munich Administrative Court will submit a request for a preliminary ruling to the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg, and will therefore suspend the proceedings, thus agreeing to a motion by attorney Marx.

On 23 January 2013, the Munich Administrative Court will be hearing the case of the request for asylum submitted in November 2008 by the U.S. AWOL soldier André Shepherd. Pro Asyl, the conscientious objectors network Connection e.V., the Bavarian Refugee Council, the German Peace Association (DFG-VK), Bavarian section, the Munich American Peace Committee (MAPC), and Military Counseling Network e.V. (MCN) invite you to come to Munich for this.

Wednesday, 23 January 2013 in Munich

10:30: Press conference at the Eine-Welt-Haus, Schwanthalerstr. 80

12:00: Support action in front of the Munich Administrative Court (Verwaltungsgericht), Bayerstr. 30

13:00: Hearing in the Administrative Court, Bayerstr. 30

It has been almost a year since the German Federal Immigration Office denied my asylum. During this time the American Government continues to force soldiers such as myself to continue invading other lands under the guise of Democracy. It pains me to see that this once great country has decided to use its great power to subjugate the peoples of the world, rather than uplifting them to new heights. Even though the Iraq war has seemingly ended, there is still no end in sight for this ill-fated “War on Terror.”

Last Friday, Turkish-Kurdish conscientious objector Inan Süver was released earlier then expected. Inan Süver explained that he is extremely happy and excited to be out of the prison cell and part of daily life again.

We thank all who supported Inan Süver and helped to achieve his early release.

The support group of Maikel Nabil Sanad informed that the military has now set the date for the appeal of Egyptian conscientious objector and critic of the military for 1 November 2011. However, War Resisters’ International, Connection e.V., and DFG-VK Hesse still demand the immediate and unconditional release, because the sentence is a grave violation of human rights.