ATHENS, Sept 22 (AFP) - Amnesty International on Wednesday called for the immediate release of the only known Greek soldier to be jailed over his refusal to serve on a warship in the Gulf to protest the US-led war in Iraq.
Giorgos Monastiriotis, 24, was arrested earlier this month and sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after a Greek naval court in Piraeus convicted him of desertion.
A statement by the human rights watchdog group urged Monastiriotis' immediate and unconditional release, calling him a "prisoner of conscience, imprisoned for his conscientious opposition to participating in the recent war on Iraq".
Monastiriotis, who had signed up for a five-year stint in the Greek navy, refused in May 2003 to follow his unit on the frigate Navarino that was sent to the Gulf as part of the US-led anti-terrorist operation "Enduring Freedom", which was first launched against terrorist bases in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
In a public statement at the time, the Greek sailor said he would "refuse on grounds of conscience to participate in or contribute by any means to the relentless massacre of the Iraqi people", according to the Amnesty statement.
Though it took part in "Enduring Freedom", EU and NATO-member Greece was opposed to sending troops to the US-led war on Iraq and offered instead to provide technical units who would be covered by a UN mandate.
The Amnesty statement noted that Greece does not recognize the right to conscientious objection for volunteer or professional soldiers, and said a 1997 law allowing the possibility of alternative civilian service "continues to be of a punitive nature and to discriminate against conscientious objectors".
Amnesty called for its reform "on the basis of international standards".