HUMAN RIGHTS INFORMATION AGENCY "EXPRESS-CHRONICLE"

ENGLISH WEEKLY NEWS DIGEST

20 June 1997

Moscow (E-C). On 18 June the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA) demanded to that the passage of the law 'On Military Duty and Military Service' be stopped. The ARA noted that the State Duma plans to debate this 'anti-reformist, militarist and anti-popular' law on 20 June at the second reading. Members and supporters of ARA contend that this law proposes to 'militarise education and make the State pay for military-patriotic training of citizens, endangers the constitutional right of citizen not to join the army for reasons of conviction,' and encroaches on the right of the citizen to be in charge of one's own health.