INFORMATION AGENCY "EXPRESS CHRONICLE"

NEWS BULLETIN N 2050 - May 15, 1996, Wednesday

THE RESULT OF THE CASE OF CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR VADIM HESSE PROVED THAT RUSSIAN COURT CAN BE INDEPENDENT AND IMPARTIAL, AND RUSSIA ITSELF COULD BE STATE OF LAW, means Nikolaj Khramov, secretary of the Anti-militarist Radical Association (ARA). He expressed this opinion on the press conference on May 14 in Russian American Press & Information Center. Member of ARA Vadim Hesse and Sergej Sorokin, president of Movement Against Violence and member of ARA, have taken part in the press conference too. In December, last year conscript Hesse refused the military service on reasons of conscience and requested the military recruitment commission to grant him alternative civilian service. The military recruitment commission of Noginsk district (Moscow region) did not satisfied Hesse's request and ordered him to arrive to the assembly point to be dispatched to the troops. Hesse ignored the commission's order. As result, on January 25, this year he was arrested and placed into Noginsk investigation prison where he spent

forty days. The conscientious objector faced the accusation according the Art. 80 of Russian Criminal Code ("Evading the regular draft to the military service"). On May 13 the Noginsk City Court under the presidency of the judge Mrs Elena Raskevich has passed justification sentence for Vadim Hesse. While taking decision, the Court - as it was told in the sentence - followed directly the Russian Constitution (whose Article 59.3 gives to every citizen the right to substitute military service by the alternative civilian service in case his convictions prevent the military service), as well as generally recognized norms and principles of the international law. "Importance of this even - the justification sentence to a conscientious objector - is in demonstration to every Russian conscientious objector: it is possible to realize in practice the right to refuse military service," Nikolaj Khramov told on the press conference. Sergej Sorokin has also added that two circumstances on the process on Hesse's case deser

ve attention too. The first one: state accusation had been supported by the prosecutor Marina Frolova who - according Mr Sorokin - was inflicted by "the Afghan syndrome" (on the court session she declared that many of those fighting in Afghanistan "have learnt the price of life" and therefore "she is ashamed for Vadim Hesse"). The second one: 75% of the court investigation were spent for clarification, whether the conscientious objector has any convictions - a question which, according Mr Sorokin, could not be proved in principle.