Moscow, November 24, 1999 - The Russian Justice is doing its best to clear up the situation of the conscientious objectors that have lodged a complaint against the decision of the Enlistment Commissions to call them up for military service - in violation of their right to apply for the alternative civilian service instead of the military service - and the courts have refused to satisfy their complaints. Recently many criminal actions have been brought against those conscientious objectors that still defend their right to conscientiously object (although, no one has been arrested yet).

One of these cases, concerning Aleksandr Egorov, accused of "evading military and alternative civilian service" (Art. 328 of the Russian Criminal Code) has been dismissed by the City Court of Slantsevsk, Leningrad region, on November 22. The Court returned the verdict of "not guilty" for the lack of corpus delicti. Aleksandr Egorov has put the materials of his case in the Internet, You may find them at http://egr.4mg.com/story.htm.

At the same time in Obninsk (Kaluga region) an identical trial of a member of the ARA Dmitrii Neverovskii has started today. The Prosecution has asked two years of imprisonment for, according to it, the accused has no pacifist convictions and his example exerts a negative influence on other draftees in Obninsk. The Secretary of the ARA Nikolai Khramov, participating in the trial as public defence, has drawn the attention of the court to the fact (confirmed by the Military Commissar of Obninsk, interrogated as a witness) that the accused is being tried because the State Duma has not adopted the Alternative Civilian Service Federal Law, provided by the Russian Constitution - and this is for only reason why Dmitrii Neverovskii has found himself in the dock. The defence insists on the verdict of "not guilty" for the lack of corpus delicti. After the discussion the trial is suspended till 10:00 a.m. of November 25. Tomorrow the accused will say his last word and the Court will probably pronounce its verdict.

According to the information of The Centre for Peace-Keeping and Public Development, another criminal action against a conscientious objector is brought in Novgorod: the accused is Arkadii Zarakovskii. Since 1997 he has been fighting to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service. Probably the trail of Zarakovskii will take place in December.