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Dear friends,
This is the first issue of a new electronic bulletin distributed by the Antimilitarist Radical Association. Antimilitarist on-line is not an electronic edition of the paper bulletin Antimilitarist, published since 1996, but an independent edition. Unlike Antimilitarist, which till recently has been published rather unregularly, we plan to make Antimilitarist on-line bi-weekly and to send it gratis to subscribers by e-mail. You may also find it at our web site at http://www.glasnet.ru/~ara and in some of Usenet conferences.
The duration of this project will be determined by the funding available, both for this particular initiative and for providing the activity of the Antimilitarist Radical Association on the whole. ARA has neither state financing no commercial activity. The funds of ARA and of all its initiatives come from fees and contributions paid by members and adherents. Therefore, the success of this project will depend on the success of 1998 membership campaign.
Antimilitarist on-line will provide you with the information about ARA initiatives, in particular, about the conscientious objection and the struggle for the soonest adoption of a liberal Alternative Civilian Service Law in Russia. In the future we also plan to inform you about the activity of other antimilitarist groups that fight together with us against the militarism, for human and civil rights, for the law-abiding state and liberal reforms.
However, Antimilitarist on-line will not limit itself to informing its readers about antimilitarist initiatives in Russia. It should co-ordinate these actions both among Russian antimilitarists and our foreign friends - in Europe and in America - any place in the world where people will give support to our struggle for the civil rights, independently of the country that violates them, negates them or calls them in question.
First of all, it concerns our non-violent in the spirit of Gandhi "Civil Obedience Campaign" for the soonest adoption of the Alternative Civilian Service Law. Hundreds of young Russian people claim the enlistment commissions and the court to secure them their right to conscientious objection guaranteed by the Russian Constitution. The fate of the Alternative Civilian Service Law is being decided right now in hundreds of courts all around Russia and not in the State Duma whose Defence Committee has buried the draft law four years ago. Certainly, Antimilitarist On-line (especially its English edition) will promote an international campaign to support and, if necessary, to defend Russian conscientious objectors.
So, the "battle" will prove the efficiency and the effectiveness of Antimilitarist on-line. We hope for your support and participation. For our part, we will do our utmost to prevent this bulletin from becoming another useless electronic "spam". There is already plenty of it in Internet.
Good luck!
Nikolai Khramov,
Secretary of ARA.
>>> CRIMINAL TRIALS OF CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS
On November 18, 1997, Viktor Semenov was arrested and put up in the investigatory prison of Noginsk (Moscow Region). Although he was discharged in two days, the criminal case brought up in action against Semenov in reference to Article 328 of the Russian Criminal Code ("avoidance of performing military service") is not dismissed yet. Earlier Semenov declared to the enlistment commission that he conscientiously objected. According to Article 59.3 of the Russian Constitution, he demanded to perform the alternative civilian service. When the enlistment commission refused to grant the constitutional right of Victor Semenov, the conscientious objector appealed to the Court of Noginsk, but in violation of the Constitution the Court rejected his complaint. In April 1997 Moscow Regional Court confirmed this decision. ARA Chairman MP Valerii Borshchev sent an inquiry about Semenov case to the Procurator-General Jurii Skuratov.
On January 5, 1998, the Interregional Office of Public Prosecutor Tushinskaya (Moscow) put on criminal trial another ARA member and conscientious objector Vasilii Bazhenov. He is not arrested, but he is under examination. On April 4, 1997, the Interregional Municipal Court Tushinskii refused to recognise his right to conscientious objection.
The criminal trial of Aleksandr Borodin, conscientious objector and member of ARA, charged of breaking Article 328 of the Criminal Code, is held at the Intermunicipal Court Golovinskii in Moscow. The next hearing of the case will take place on February 27 at 10:00 a.m. (ul. Zoi i Aleksandra Kosmodem'yanskikh, 31, room 406).
In Novosibirsk on November 18, 1997, a criminal trial was brought up into action against Vitalii Anikeev, student of a private college, conscientious objector and member of ARA (Article 328 of the Criminal Code). On initiative of ARA three deputies of the State Duma - Arkadii Yankovskii (independent), Yulii Rybakov (independent) and Igor' Lukashev (Jabloko)
sent an inquiry about this case.
In Sterlitamak (Republic of Bashkortostan) on December 22, 1997, the Office of Public Prosecutor informed conscientious objector Igor' Smorodin about a criminal trial brought up into action against him (Article 328). Smorodin was waiting for the judgement of the Court on his complaint about the illegitimate actions of the enlistment commission. However, the Court disallowed his complaint in his absence and the authorities did not even inform Smorodin about the date and the time of the session. On February 3, 1998, investigators from the Office of Public Prosecutor put Igor Smorodin up in the investigatory prison for three days in order to keep up constant pressure on him. Nevertheless Smorodin still insisted on his constitutional right to conscientious objection. This time Smorodin gave a written undertaking not to leave the place. Now he is waiting for the next court session.
In Ekaterinburg ARA member Denis Jazykov, charged of "avoidance of performing military service", has already been waiting for the trial for about a year and a half.
At present ARA has information about 8 criminal trials of conscientious objectors, including the two sole cases in which the sentence of the court came into force: the case of Vadim Hesse (discharged by the City Court of Noginsk, Moscow Region, for the absence of corpus delicti on May 13, 1996) and the case of Aleksandr Seregin (discharged by the Moscow City Court for the absence of corpus delicti on December 24, 1996). At the same time, according to the data of the Ministry of Defence, during the spring enlistment campaign '97 675 people officially declared that they conscientiously objected and applied for the alternative civilian service instead of performing the military service.
>>> ALTERNATIVE CIVILIAN SERVICE LAW: WHEN? - MANIFESTATION DURING THE PRESS-CONFERENCE OF GENERAL ROKHLIN IN THE STATE DUMA
Moscow, November 20, 1997. Seven activists of the ARA undertake a demonstration during the press conference of Gen. Lev Rokhlin in the State Duma. They raised just in the conference hall a banner with words: "Alternative Civilian Service: When?" They didn't manage to obtain any answer on the question submitten in "written form". But in four days Defence Committee of the State Duma, chaired by Mr. Rokhlin has taken the decision to submit alternative civilian service draft bill to the plenary session of the chamber and to reccommend MPs to reject it.
>>> GENERAL HADQUARTERS OF ARMED FORCES SUSPECT ARA OF INSTIGATION TO EVADE MILITARY SERVICE
Moscow, December 22, 1997. The Secretary of ARA Nikolai Khramov was invited at the Interregional Office of Public Prosecutor Meshchanskaya to furnish official explanations about the initiative of ARA for informing Russian citizens about the ways in which they can exercise their constitutional right to conscientious objection and perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service. The ground for this meeting was given by the Headquarters of the Russian Armed Forces which inquired the Office of the Chief Military Prosecutor about the information distributed by ARA in Moscow and all around Russia. This information includes instructions for conscripts who want to exercise their legal right to conscientious objection.
Nikolai Khramov explained that ARA fought for the soonest adoption of the Alternative Civilian Service Federal Law. ARA informed conscripts about their constitutional right and never aspired to instigate people to illegitimate actions. On the contrary, ARA appealed to the young Russian people not to evade the enlistment, but to follow the Constitution and declare that they conscientiously objected and applied for the alternative civilian service.
>>> GENERAL ROKHLIN IS NO LONGER RESPONSIBLE FOR THE FATE OF THE ALTERNATIVE CIVILIAN SERVICE LAW
Moscow, January 13, 1998. According to the decision of the Council of the State Duma, from now on the Alternative Civilian Service Law will be prepared by the Public Associations and Religious Organisations Duma Committee, Vice Chairman MP Valerii Borshchev (Jabloko), ARA Chairman and member of the Transnational Radical Party. In the past there were two Duma Committees responsible for this draft law: Defence Committee (presided by Lev Rokhlin) and Public Associations and Religious Organisations Committee (presided by Valerii Zorkal'tsev, Communist Party of the Russian Federation). ARA Secretary Nikolai Khramov declared: "General Rokhlin <...> did his best to block the adoption of this law, a law of primary importance, expected with hope by thousands of young Russian citizens; a law that has to be the first sign of the military reform. The fact that Rokhlin can no longer influence the fate of the Alternative Civilian Service Draft Law gives us hope that in 1998 this draft law may be finally adopted. This must
be our objective."
>>> ARA MILITANTS INTERROGATED AND IDENTIFIED BY FINGER-PRINTS BY THE FEDERAL SECURITY SERVICE
Moscow. Throughout January several militants of ARA, including ARA Secretary Nikolai Khramov, acting Treasurer Anna Zaitseva, members of ARA Secretariat Sergei Sorokin and Sergei Vorontsov were interrogated by the Investigatory Department of the Federal Security Service at Lefortovo. The occasion for interrogation was given by the explosion set off last year near the Office of the General Prosecutor in per. Kholzunovskii in Moscow. ARA militants gave testimonies for this case, but in fact they were just questioned about ARA, its initiatives, organisation and methods. The investigators also took fingerprints of all interrogated people. Last summer several ARA militants were already interrogated for another case concerning explosions near two Military Commissariats in Moscow in 1996.
It is really astonishing that the investigators of the Federal Security Service might connect with these explosions an organisation whose main principle is a political non-violence in the spirit of Gandhi. However, the fact that officers of different Military Commissariats and of different ranks all together accuse ARA of carrying out "a subversive activities" and of being involved in acts of terrorism makes us suggest that there must be another motive in the interest manifested by the Security Service, a motive that has nothing to do with instigation to acts of terrorism.
>>> WILL THE ALTERNATIVE CIVILIAN SERVICE DRAFT LAW BE DISCUSSED IN MARCH?
The Council of the State Duma entered the second reading of the Alternative Civilian Service Draft Law in the plan of the Duma session in March 1998. Unfortunately, in the past this draft law has already been included in the plan and has been on the agenda of the Duma, but the present Duma of the 6-th collocation has never discussed it at a plenary session. ARA is going to send letters to all the deputies of the lower chamber, inviting them to vote for this long-suffering draft law. We also plan to hold a manifestation at the entrance to the State Duma the day of the discussion. The date of debates has not been set yet.
>>> UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION WILL DISCUSS THE RIGHTS OF RUSSIAN CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS
The Transnational Radical Party, an NGO with category 1 consultative status at the UN, plans to bring up for discussion at the 54 session of the UN Human Rights Commission the question concerning the rights of conscientious objectors in Russia. The 54-th session will take place in March 1998. Radical Party and ARA have prepared a detailed report "Conscientious objection in Russia" that will be proposed to the session and will become an official document of the Commission. For the first time the problem of conscientious objection in Russia will be discussed by the United Nations. You will find the report in the next issues of Antimilitarist On-line.
>>> LOOK, WHO'S COMING!
They joined ARA in 1998:
- Julii RYBAKOV, Member of the State Duma (independent), Member of the Political Council of Demokraticheskii Vybor Rossii party (Democratic Choice of Russia);
- Galina STAROVOITOVA, Member of the State Duma, Co-Chairman of Demokraticheskaya Rossiya Federal Party (Democratic Russia);
- Valerii BORSHCHEV, Member of the State Duma, Vice Chiarman of the Public Associations and Religious Organisations Duma Committee, Chairman of the Chamber on Human Rights of the Political Advisory Board with the President of the Russian Federation.
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