PRESS RELEASE

Moscow, July 19, 1995

The session of the court on case of Nikolaj Gorshkov, one of the authors of the "Declaration of 19" on collective conscientious objection, will take place tomorrow, July 20, at 9:30 in the Gagarin Inter-municipal Court (ul. Druzhby 4a).

Nikolaj Gorshkov has appealed to the court with action on the decision of the military enlistment commission which didn't respect his right to alternative civilian service guaranteed by the Art. 59 Part 3 of the Constitution of Russian Federation.

The authors of the "Declaration of 19" presented on the press conference of A.R.A. in Moscow on July 11, this year consider their objection to military service as a collective action in spirit of Ghandi's political non-violence, aimed to the soonest passing of the law on alternative civilian service (ACS) which would recognize conscientious objection as an everybody's civilian right and would secure exceptionally civilian character of this service.

Anti-militarist Radical Association (A.R.A.) which has as one of its nearest political objectives the soonest adoption of a democratic and nondiscriminatory law on alternative civilian service, considers the campaign of direct non-violent actions initiated by the authors of the "Declaration of 19" (many of those are members of A.R.A.) as an essential element of the political struggle for the soonest legislative securing the constitutional right on conscientious objection in Russia.

For more information:

A.R.A., tel/fax (095) 9239127