As in many countries today, Italy recognizes the right of its citizens to decline military service on conscientious grounds. But that was not always the case. It was largely due to the high price paid by Jehovah’s Witnesses that Italy came to accept this fundamental human right.

Military conscription continued in Italy for decades after World War II. In 1946, immediately after the war, there were only 120 Witnesses in the entire country. But as more and more people dedicated their lives to Jehovah, the number of young Witness men increased who conscientiously objected to compulsory military service laws. Their objections were grounded on Bible-based principles of neutrality, nonviolence, and love of neighbor.

A recent survey conducted by the Italy branch office found that at least 14,180 brothers are still living who were sentenced to serve prison terms for refusing military induction. These brothers were condemned to a total of 9,732 years in prison, mostly between the late 1960’s and the late 1990’s.

Sergio Albesano, a historian of anti-militarism in Turin, Italy, said that Jehovah’s Witnesses made up “the vast majority of youths who were imprisoned for refusing to render military service.” He added that thanks to their stalwart conviction, these young men “helped bring the problem to the attention of public opinion.”

Former Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti, while serving as Italy’s defense minister in the 1960’s, decided to meet personally with some of the imprisoned Witnesses to understand the reasons behind their objection to military service. He later wrote: “I was impressed by [their] evident religious inspiration and noninvolvement in any political speculation; it was not by chance that they subjected themselves to yearslong prison terms, as they persevered in refusing to wear a uniform.”

The first law recognizing objection to military service was approved in 1972. Unfortunately, while the law established alternative civilian service, it was still under military control, which was not acceptable to our brothers.

Finally, on July 8, 1998, the Italian government passed a new law establishing an alternative civilian service independent of the military and was therefore acceptable to Jehovah’s Witnesses. In August 2004, Italy adopted a law suspending the military draft altogether, effective January 2005.

Among the numerous experts crediting Jehovah’s Witnesses for these developments in Italian jurisprudence is Sergio Lariccia, a lawyer and emeritus law professor at Sapienza University of Rome. He said: “At a time when military chaplains defined objection as ‘an insult against one’s motherland, having nothing to do with the Christian commandment to love, and an expression of cowardice,’ the firm stand of many Jehovah’s Witnesses contributed to the evolution of law and society in Italy.”

Our brothers’ stand did not only impact Italy’s legal system. Several prison guards became Jehovah’s Witnesses after observing the conduct of Witness inmates. One of them, Giuseppe Serra, remembers: “The example of those young Witnesses moved me . . . to start studying the Bible.” He became a Witness in 1972. (See the box below.)

We rejoice in the courageous examples set by generations of our brothers and their families in Italy, as well as many others in our worldwide brotherhood, who take seriously the command to not “learn war anymore.”—Isaiah 2:4.