USA: Prisoner of Conscience, Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo

USA: Prisoner of Conscience, Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo

Index Number: AMR 51/092/2004
Date Published: 2 June 2004
Categories: Americas, USA

On 21 May 2004, a US military court sentenced Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia Castillo of the Florida National Guard to the maximum penalty of one year's imprisonment for desertion. He had refused to return to his unit in Iraq, citing moral reasons, the legality of the war and the conduct of US troops towards Iraqi civilians and prisoners. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, imprisoned for his conscientious opposition to participating in war.