THAT CONSCRIPT BORODIN HAD "AN OFFICIAL GUARANTEE" THAT HE COULD VIOLATE THE

OATH OF ENLISTMENT.

THE DESTINY OF THE ALTERNATIVE CIVILIAN SERVICE LAW IS BEING DECIDED NOT IN

THE DUMA, BUT IN HUNDREDS OF COURTS ALL AROUND RUSSIA" - SAID ARA SECRETARY

NIKOLAJ KHRAMOV.

Press-release of the Antimilitarist Radical Association

Moscow, January 30, 1998.

For immediate distribution.

The criminal trial of Aleksandr Borodin, conscientious objector and member

of the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA), began today at the

Intermunicipal Court Golovinskij in Moscow. Borodin is accused of violating

article 328 of the Russian Criminal Code (evading military service and

alternative civilian service).

Judge Sergej Lebedev refused to satisfy the intercession of defence to admit

ARA Secretary Nikolaj Khramov for participation in the trial as a

representative of the public defence because ARA was not registered by the

state bodies. Therefore, with the connivance of the public prosecutor

(representative of the Interregional Office of Public Prosecutor

Golovinskaja), from the very beginning of the trial the Judge allowed

himself a gross violation of the federal law "On public associations", in

particular of art. 21 ("Public associations are not obliged to register at

the justice bodies") and art. 27 ("To secure its statuary objects the public

association has the right to <...> represent and defend its rights,

legitimate interests of its members and adherents and of other citizens at

the state and public authorities, institutions of local government and

public associations"). On Monday, February 2, ARA Secretary Nikolaj Khramov

will file official claims at the Office of Public Prosecutor of Moscow and

at the Russian Ministry of Justice.

A witness, representative of the Military Registration and Enlistment Office

Golovinskij, declared that according to the directives of the Ministry of

Defence Borodin as well as other conscientious objectors had "an official

guarantee" that he could perform military service in the units that excluded

"carrying arms and maintenance of the military equipment". However, when

the defence asked him whether performing military service in such units

included taking the oath of enlistment and the "course of a young fighter",

the representative of the Enlistment Office confirmed that the oath

containing the words "I swear with the arms in my hands" was a compulsory

attribute of any service in any military unit. In fact the Ministry of

Defence issued "secret directives" that ordered all military commissars to

"guarantee" the conscripts the possibility of violating the oath of

enlistment during the performance of the military service.

Judge Lebedev asked the representatives of the Military Registration and

Enlistment Office to produce to the Court a legitimate properly attested

copy of those directives and adjourned the hearing of the case till February

27.

After the sitting of the court ARA Secretary Nikolay Khramov declared: "If

we proceed from the Law, from the superiority of the Russian Constitution,

the outcome of this trial must be predetermined: acquittal for the lack of

corpus delicti. Aleksandr Borodin is legally fighting for his constitutional

right to conscientious objection and for performing alternative civilian

service instead of the military service. He did not commit the crime he was

accused of. However, we all witness once again that Russian judges and

Prosecutors misinterpret their role, serving not the Law, but the regime

that actually denies young Russian citizens their fundamental human rights

fixed by the Constitution. I hope that similar description may not be

applied to venerable judge Lebedev. One thing is self-evident: the destiny

of the Alternative Civilian Service Law is being decided not in the Duma,

but in this Court as well as in hundreds of similar Courts all around Russia".

For details, please contact ARA:

(095) 923-9127.