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.”

There exists objection and evasion of war and military in many countries of the world. It can occur at any time. A person may object before or after joining the military, before or after being recruited in case of conscription. Evaders and deserters are generally prosecuted, COs are rejected still in a lot of countries. If a CO right exists, they often have to face a complicated and degrading screening process. Furthermore a lot of countries do not give the opportunity to already recruited draftees and professional soldiers to legally declare their CO. Globally, COs are facing prosecution, repression, or re-recruitment. For this reason some of them apply for asylum somewhere else.

In all wars individuals - sometimes only a few, sometimes thousands - try to evade military service, to object military actions or desert from the military. They face prosecution and persecution. Furthermore objectors have to realize that in many countries their conscience and convictions are not accepted. They face repression, prosecution or new recruitment as well. This is why all of them seek protection abroad in other countries. But over and over again such applications for asylum are rejected. Generally, prosecution and persecution of conscientious objectors or deserters is not regarded as a valid reason for asylum.

Some international resolutions and recommendations have been adopted in recent years. I would like to give a summary of these, highlighting different opinions and the existing possibilities for conscientious objectors and deserters to be accepted as refugees. Additionally, I will outline the limits of such possibilities.