Jehovah's Witnesses, ten thousand years in prison for not killing

 ITALY

Jehovah's Witnesses, ten thousand years in prison for not killing

August 30, 2020

The numbers of a survey on conscientious objection. The testimonies of the area of Fermo

FERMO - They were in hundreds of areas of Fermo, among the more than 14,000 conscientious objectors who were sentenced to almost 10,000 years in prison. This is the sensational result of a very recent survey conducted among the Italian Jehovah's Witnesses, about how many of them have paid for refusing to take up arms and how much this decision has cost them. Undoubtedly, this is a very high price for his clearly expressed "no” to guns in recent decades. Today, international jurisprudence recognizes conscientious objection to military service as one of the fundamental human rights, but this was not always the case.

Jehovah's Witnesses have always considered military service incompatible with their religion. According to a study, based on the testimonies of those who practiced conscientious objection before it was allowed by law, it follows that, among the currently living Italian Jehovah's Witnesses, at least 14,180 have had to serve time for refusing to perform military service, including, as we said, young people from all areas of the Marches who in total have served 579 years in prison.

This largely occurred between the late sixties and the late nineties. In total, the survey participants spent 9,732 years in prison.

Jehovah's Witnesses constituted "the vast majority of young people imprisoned for refusing to perform military service," says historian Sergio Albesano. "With their massive support for the refusal to enlist in the army, they effectively created a political case and helped to draw public attention to the problem."

The position adopted by the conscientious objector Witnesses also attracted the attention of former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, who in 1983 wrote: "In the sixties, when I was in the Department of Defense, I wanted to realize the phenomenon, which was multiplying, of military conscientious objection by young people belonging to Jehovah's Witnesses. Talking to them one by one in the Forte Boccea prison, I was struck by their obvious religious inspiration and lack of political speculation; It is no coincidence that they have submitted to years in prison for continuing to refuse to wear the uniform."

The jurist Sergio Lariccia points out: "Today conscientious objection is included among the inalienable rights of man and, although its cultural origin is also religious, what has been achieved has brought benefits for everyone. We owe a debt of gratitude to those who contributed with their lives to guarantee our freedoms."

Bruno Segre, lawyer and journalist, founder of "L'Incontro“ and defender of Pietro Pinna, comments: "My sponsors were almost all, (except some radical objectors, freethinkers, anarchists, Catholics in recent times) Jehovah's Witnesses whom I admired for their absolute respect for pacifist ideals, for their very high moral level".

The contribution of these objectors also pushed the authorities to approve, after years of discussions and postponements, a law that sanctioned the full legal recognition of conscientious objection in 1998. Compulsory military service was suspended in 2005.

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TESTIMONIES OF FERMANO

Samuel Bonifazi

Year of detention: sentence 12 months, effective detention 8 months

Penitentiary cities: Forte Boccea, La Spezia, Gaeta

Number of siblings detained (together): Approximately 300

by Samuele Bonifazi

“I left for the prison of Pesaro on April 22, 1986 and there I found 6 other brothers in the faith; after a week we were taken to the military prison of Forte Boccea.

After a few days of isolation (as it were, there were 12 of us crammed into the same cell, both military prisoners and conscientious objectors), then I was transferred to another one where we were all Witnesses, except for a marshal awaiting trial. As soon as I entered the bedroom it seemed like a "paradise", my fellow believers kept it scrupulously clean and tidy and there was even a bouquet of flowers on the table.

The most difficult moment for me were the days when I was detained in the civil prison of La Spezia for the trial, due to the difficult hygienic conditions and the type of prisoners held there. However, the common sense of the prison authorities did not allow ordinary prisoners and we, the Witnesses, to be in contact.

After the trial I was transferred to Gaeta Prison, where at that time only the Witnesses were detained. That was a good period, because of the lockdown conditions and because of my spiritual growth. In fact, the prison was completely managed by the Witnesses under the supervision of military officers, both in daily management, such as cooking, cleaning and maintenance, and in some office jobs. For example, I worked at Private Provenance, which managed the expenses and purchases of individual prisoners, the management of mail and the storage of their valuables. Here we worked daily with two Witnesses, plus two corporals in charge of our surveillance and the Marshal in charge. There was a safe in the office that kept precious items that prisoners could not keep in their cells, such as gold rings or chains. It is noteworthy the fact that when only we, the Witnesses, were working with the marshal in charge, the safe was quietly opened, but when the soldiers assigned to protect us were also there, the safe was completely closed.

Among the most beautiful memories of the period of detention in Gaeta are undoubtedly the wonderful speeches that some of our external brothers in the faith came to give us weekly and of which, more than 34 years later, I still remember some aspects, and also the organization of our annual congress with the theme "Divine Peace", which we held in prison with a podium built with boxes and colored handkerchiefs. For that occasion we also had permission to perform the biblical drama centered on the life of Joseph and they lent us wonderful clothes from a convention that had just taken place outside.

The biblical drama was so successful that the prison authorities wanted it to be performed again in his presence and that of his relatives; at the end of the performance the Colonel gave a speech in which he praised our values and our behavior, describing the occasion as a perfect example of collaboration between prisoners and prison authorities.

I was released from prison on December 18, 1986 thanks to a pardon law."

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Gabriele Capriotti

Years of detention: from 1966 to 1969 (36 months + 3 months of isolation)

Penitentiary facilities: Gaeta, military prison in Palermo, Forte Boccea in Rome, Peschiera del Garda, Poggio Reale in Naples, Le Nuove in Turin.

by Gabriele Capriotti

"At the age of twenty, at the best moment of my life, I had to face a very difficult problem: prison.

Since childhood I have always loved my neighbor. I remember that my father, having learned about the Bible from Jehovah's Witnesses, read me the passage from the Gospel of Matthew, 22:39 “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” When I was a kid I didn't want to wear a military uniform so I wouldn't learn how to kill others. For this reason, from 1966 to 1969, I met many Italian penitentiaries. Many things scared me, but I always felt God's help.

One scary moment was when I was locked in a dark cell on the ferry to cross the Strait of Messina with my hands cuffed. I thought: if the ferry had problems, who would come to open the door for me?

To stay firm in my faith, I was in solitary confinement as punishment three times, for a total of 3 months.

The cell was small, about 2.50 meters by 2.50 meters. He had a board and a single military blanket to sleep on. We could take turns climbing the tower and get an hour of air a day. I asked the guard for a pencil and a few sheets of paper, this allowed me to draw the places I had been.

On a trip to Gaeta I lived an experience that has always remained in my mind. After spending three days in Poggio Reale, in Naples, I was handcuffed to a long chain along with seven other civilian prisoners.

One of them said that he had killed several of his relatives, he explained to me that it was a matter of honor! At night we had to sleep in the same cell.

He asked me what I had done to deserve to be there with them. When I explained to him that I was a conscientious objector and that my "crime" was not wanting to learn how to kill my neighbor, he smiled and replied, "You see, I'm right, whatever you do you get punished." : I'm here because I killed, you're here because you don't want to. How strange is this world!

Then he asked me some questions about the Bible. All the interns liked the great biblical characters: the story of Moses, Samson, David and Goliath, etc. I am happy that God helped me to tell them all by heart.

They were very happy to listen to them, I always remember those moments; I tried to stay away, but they put me in the center of the cell and, gathered around me, they listened like children; sometimes they made me repeat a story twice!

They gave me that aud Here really the help of jehovah's God because principle-les-see below a lot of fear, but after this kind of preaching they became my protectors. One of them I made a portrait of him The portrait that so

The word Gaeta made me tremble, terr todos quer que le hacer a retrato in su novia, so I could make him an original when they came back gift at home. As convert me convert

The commander of the prison tamb as a reward got me a room in the prison at my disposal where I could paint and study, alone or in company.

I remember that the commander confided in us the Witnesses, so At the respect, I come to mind a special eperperience: It was 4 months ago that he did not recieve A d herm to the brother who was with me vim o we saw that the magazines were all s Cmo We Had an eel celente idea, we decided to take the new magazines, change the covers and insert in them the magazines vie Everything went well during many months, but a d a all the cleaners called us to the commander's office, that quer sab a saber a saber muchas cosas cos I understood... how important... the... as a result, the commander called the guard who had denounced us and ordered him to be personally in charge. I was not pleased, but have to

Also on this occasion I would like to conclude by saying that, despite the fact that we were locked up and with many doors separating us from freedom, our heart was very strong because we felt the closeness of our great God, Jehovah's."

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Franco Pistolesi

To stop 1977 – 1978 – 12 months

City Prison

Nero Mero of prisoners (together

by Franco Pistolesi

“I was assigned two tasks: in the kitchen as a dishwasher ... during some... d On that occasion you I had the opportunity to approach with meet Red Alter Reder who was detained in a wing of the prison cont...

Marshal Cobino liked us so much that he hardly denied us anything that he asked him about. He also spoke well of us in the dem sold

When I was in the "Judicial Penitentiary Section of Gaeta", I was the object of harassment by to taken common, who belonged to the Neapolitan "underworld" and if took it out on me.

Take fu fire to my blanket while I'm sleeping

 He remained... impassive... mi no reacci... n ante el gesture... clear... provocative seems to have impressed both the inmates friends of the criminal and the corporals present. From that moment there were no more attacks of harassment against me, in fact the same people who were against me before became friends, they respected me. All this is certainly thanks to the ense b hu

Let's go back to prison tomorrow A week the we used to talk to others about the teachings of the Bible, but unfortunately we had with a few other people to talk and normally, it was always the same the corporals of service. We took advantage of the fact that the common prisoners fri fri The testimonial corr

I remember that Gaeta's experience gave me the opportunity to get closer to Jehovah's, to see him as a real person, who is there to help his loyal servants.

In fact, this allowed me to discover "prayer" as a jewel with multiple facets that I did not know before."

In the photos:

1. Fermo Prison

2. Samuel Bonifazi

3. Gabriele Capriotti

4. Franco Pistolesi

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