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Anti-militarist Radical Association

For Immediate Release

Moscow - St. Petersburg, May 29, 1997

On May 27 the Krasnogvardejskij District Court of St. Petersburg city satisfied the complaint submitted by Andrej Sobolev, member of the Anti-militarist Radical Association and Transnational Radical Party against illegal actions of military recruitment commission which has taken decision to draft him to the military service despite Sobolev's demand to change military service by alternative civilian service.

Several times the court session had been postponed because of absence of the representative of another party (Recruitment Commission of Krasnogvardejskij District of St. Petersburg city). The day before yesterday, the decision finally has been taken in absentia.

The court applied directly the Article 59.2 of Russian Constitution, which guarantees the right on conscientious objection to every citizen whose convictions are not compatible with military service.

Now Andrej Sobolev - as hundreds of other young citizens who declared their conscientious objection - should wait for the State Duma which must approve alternative civilian service law regulating the process of performing the alternative civilian service.

Meanwhile, the Anti-militarist Radical Association together with the program "Private Case" on TV-6 Moscow continues the "Civil Obedience Campaign" aimed on the soonest adoption of a democratic and non-discriminatory conscientious objection bill and whose nearest goal is achieving the number of 7,000 registered conscientious objectors within the end of 1997 Autumn conscription campaign.

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