World BEYOND War Board Member, pacifist, and opponent of all wars and violence, has been abducted by police in Ukraine. He has long been threatened and falsely accused of supporting Russian warmaking.

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Yurii Sheliazhenko, PhD, is a Member of the Board of Directors of World BEYOND War. He is based in Ukraine. Yurii is 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. He obtained a Master of Mediation and Conflict Management degree in 2021 and a Master of Laws degree in 2016 at KROK University. In addition to his participation in the peace movement, he is a journalist, blogger, human rights defender, and legal scholar, an author of academic publications and a lecturer on legal theory and history. He has been a facilitator for World BEYOND War’s online courses. Yurii is a winner of the International Peace Bureau’s 2022 Sean MacBride Peace Prize.

UPDATE:

From Quaker Meeting in Kiev:

Today, March 19, 2026, representatives of the Pechersk District Police in Kyiv, along with an individual claiming to be a TCC (Territorial Recruitment Center) officer who refused to identify himself, illegally detained Yurii Sheliazhenko—a human rights defender, pacifist, and conscientious objector to military service.

This act of lawlessness took place on Perspektyvna Street. The detention was led by Senior Operative Serhiy Vitaliyovych Nakopyuk. No protocol was drawn up. Yurii managed to call his lawyer, but the officers did not wait for the lawyer’s arrival. According to Yurii, he is currently being transported to an unknown location at 20 Boichuka St. This is an illegal detention and a gross violation of human rights.

The post Yurii Sheliazhenko Abducted by Police in Ukraine appeared first on World BEYOND War.

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