France: Latest developments in the case of Michel Lucia - a conscientious objector to military service

On 19 May 1993 Michel Lucia, who had been provisionally released on 24 March, appeared before the Tenth Criminal Chamber of Paris Tribunal for sentencing on two charges of insubordination brought as a result of his refusal on two separate occasions to perform military service. The public prosecutor requested the court to pass a sentence of one year's imprisonment for each offence; however the court postponed sentencing until 13 October 1993. Michel Lucia, a 22-year-old conscript, was adopted as a prisoner of conscience when he was imprisoned between 19 January 1993 and 24 March 1993. Although he had presented an application for conscientious objector status to the authorities, it had been rejected on the grounds that it had been made outside the law's time limits.