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>>> IN SPITE OF THE "STRANGE" SENTENCE OF THE COURT GOLOVINSKII, THE CASE OF BORODIN IS NOT CLOSED YET. THE BATTLE WILL GO ON IN THE MOSCOW CITY COURT
Moscow, February 27. Today judge Sergei Lebedev pronounces the verdict of the Municipal Court Golovinskii to ARA member and conscientious objector Aleksandr Borodin. According to the Russian Constitution, Borodin claimed to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service and was accused of "avoidance of performing military service". The Court brought in a verdict of guilty for violation of Article 328 p.1 of the Russian Criminal Code and sentenced Borodin to a penalty of 17.000 roubles. However, he was immediately released thanks to the recent amnesty approved by the State Duma.
Although Borodin did not stay a day in a prison and he will not have to pay the penalty, the most astonishing fact is that federal judge Lebedev did not think it possible to follow the Constitution and to bring in the only legitimate verdict: not guilty for the absence of corpus delicti. In this case the legitimate claim to exercise a constitutional right to conscientious objection was considered a crime. Now the Moscow City Court should examine the Borodin's appeal.
>>> THE CASE OF ANIKEEV: THE PROCURATOR'S OFFICE STOPS CRIMINAL PROSECUTION OF THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR AFTER THE INTERVENTION OF THE DEPUTIES OF THE STATE DUMA
Novosibirsk, March 4. Yesterday Vitalii Anikeev, member of the ARA and conscientious objector, received a notification from the Regional Procurator's Office. It declared: "As the criminal proceedings were instituted without valid reasons and grounds, the Regional Procurator's Office decided to close the case according to Article 5.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The shortcomings of the procurator's supervision of the legality of instituting criminal proceedings were pointed out to the Procurator of the Dzerzhinskii Region".
In February three deputies of the State Duma - Igor Lukashev (Jabloko), Arkadii Jankovskii (independent) and Julii Rybakov (independent) made parliamentary inquiries to the General Procurator of the Russian Federation Jurii Skuratov about the lawfulness of instituting criminal proceedings against Anikeev.
ARA Secretary Nikolai Khramov declared: "In the case of Vitallii Anikeev the Constitution triumphed at the stage of preliminary investigation thanks to unprecedented intervention of three parliamentarians. However, other conscientious objectors, our comrades, are still waiting for the trial. Not long ago our comrade Aleksandr Borodin was sentenced guilty. In fact, he will neither to go to the prison or pay a fine, but the sentence of judge Lebedev is a spit at the Russian Constitution. Hundreds, thousands of civil claims of conscripts against the enlistment commissions, few for a while, but dozens in the nearest future of criminal trials all around Russia - unfortunately at present this is the only weapon we possess. Nevertheless, it's a weapon powerful enough to induce sooner or later the militarist majority of the Parliament to give up and to adopt the alternative civilian service law."
>>>DISCUSSION OF THE ALTERNATIVE CIVILIAN SERVICE DRAFT LAW POSTPONED ONCE AGAIN
Moscow, March 20. The discussion of the Alternative civilian service federal law in the second reading by the State Duma planned for this day did not take place once again. The reason is that the work group did not have time to prepare and to distribute among the deputies the final text of the draft law to be discussed. Now the discussion of the Alternative civilian service draft law is planned for the end of April.
>>>"NOBODY IS FORGOTTEN, NOTHING IS FORGOTTEN": THE INQUIRY OF DEPUTY BORSCHEV TO THE PRIME MINISTER CHERNOMYRDIN ABOUT THE REALISATION OF THE PRESIDENTIAL DECREE ON TRANSITION TO THE PROFESSIONAL ARMY.
On March 18, ARA President and Duma deputy Valerii Borschev (Jabloko) made an official parliamentary inquiry to the Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin asking to "let him know the official position of the Government of the Russian Federation concerning the realisation of the Presidential Decree N 722 of March 16, 1996 "On transition to the remanning of the rank and file and sergeants of the Armed Forces and of other troops of the Russian Federation on a professional basis". In his inquiry he also asked for "information about the realisation of paragraph 2 of this Presidential Decree concerning the preparation and presentation to the President of the draft laws that would modify the legislation in force and provide the transition to the military service on a professional basis."
On March 21, the Prime Minister Chernomyrdin issued directives to the Minister of Defence Sergeev and to the deputies of the heads of the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Federal Frontier Service and the Federal Railway Troops Service in which he ordered to "examine the case and report on the answer to the inquiry made by the deputy of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valerii Borschev" in 10 days.
However, the future of this order is not clear because of the dismissal of the government a week ago.
>>> LEADERS OF THE ARA ASK THE SPEAKER OF THE STATE DUMA GENNADII SELEZNJOV TO RECEIVE A DELEGATION OF FIGHTERS FOR THE ALTERNATIVE CIVILIAN SERVICE
Moscow, March 25. ARA President Valerii Borschev (a deputy of the State Duma, Jabloko group) and ARA Secretary Nikolai Khramov sent a letter to the President of the State Duma Gennadii Seleznjov asking the speaker of the Lower Chamber of the Russian Parliament "on behalf of the Antimilitarist Radical Association, on behalf of thousands of participants in the all-Russia public campaign for the adoption of the alternative civilian service law" to receive a delegation of the ARA. This delegation will include the authors of the letter, the acting treasurer of the ARA Anna Zaitseva, the President of the ARA General Council Ljudmila Obraztsova, the vice Presidents of the General Council Tat'jana Kotljar and Kirill Shulika, and the deputies of the State Duma Julii Rybakov, Galina Starovojtova (both ARA members) and Igor Lukashev.
>>> GENEVA - MOSCOW - THEN EVERYWHERE. PRESS-CONFERENCE BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE SPRING ENLISTMENT CAMPAIGN
Moscow, March 30. Valerii Borschev, Nikolai Khramov, Sergei Sorokin and the Director of the Institute of Religion and Law Anatolii Pchelintsev participated in the press-conference that took place in the National Institute for the Press. The press-conference was dedicated to the conscientious objection and was timed to the spring enlistment campaign that began, as usual, on April 1. The journalists got the report "Conscientious objection in the Russian Federation", prepared by the Transnational Radical Party (NGO with category 1 consultative status at the UN) and by the ARA. This report was presented by the Radical Party in Geneva at the 54-th session of the UN Human Rights Commission.
Nikolai Khramov commented upon the "civil obedience campaign" for the soonest adoption of the Alternative civilian service draft law carried out by the ARA: "The main objective of this campaign is to convince as many people as possible to declare that they conscientiously object and apply for the alternative civilian service, a right guaranteed by the Constitution. Only such a mass campaign will make the militarist lobby to lay down their arms and to adopt the Alternative civilian service law."
>>> THE PRESIDENT SIGNED THE NEW MILITARY SERVICE LAW: THE ENLISTMENT COMMISSIONS LOSE ANOTHER "ALIBI" AGAINST THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS
Moscow, March 20. President Eltsin signed the new federal General military service law, adopted by the State Duma on March 6. The new law, as well as the old one, declares that (Art.28.1) the enlistment commission decides weather to send the draftee to the alternative civilian service. Although, in fact, the alternative civilian service does not exist yet for the lack of the corresponding federal law, the enlistment commissions can no longer refer to the Decree of the Supreme Soviet of Russia of May 19, 1993 which "suspended" the application of paragraphs of the (previous) federal General military service law concerning the alternative civilian service. Since the adoption of the new law the Decree of the Supreme Soviet became invalid. What else will prevent the enlistment commissions from taking juridically correct decisions on satisfying the applications of the conscientious objectors for the alternative civilian service?
>>> "MILITARY DRAFT?? NO, THANKS!" - THOUSANDS OF STICKERS IN THE MOSCOW UNDERGROUND INVITE DRAFTEES TO SEMINARS ON CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION
The new spring enlistment campaign revealed that as in the past the biggest problem concerned total lack of information about the constitutional right to conscientious objection. ARA activists who carry out the civil obedience campaign have already stuck in the coaches of the Moscow metro 4.000 patches with the slogan of this campaign "Call to military service? No, thank you!", the symbol of the campaign - a child sitting in an army helmet, as if it were a pot, the Article 3.59 of the Russian Constitution and the phone number of the ARA office where everybody can get any kind of information about conscientious objection. Thanks to the help of the Public centre and Sakharov Museum, that gives its premises for seminars for conscientious objectors, the ARA organises weekly seminars for draftees: on Thursdays at 17:30, Zemljanoi val, 57-6. To secure their object ARA activists will distribute another 15 thousand of stickers, at least four stickers in each coach.
>>> POSTAL OFFENSIVE TO THE STATE DUMA
Campaign on spedition postcards addressed to the Chairman of the State Duma demanding to examine and to adopt without delay the law on alternative civilian service.
March 30, 1998
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Region Postcards
sent
--------------------------------------------------
MOSCOW 202
KALUGA 137
MOSCOW REGION 57
REPUBLIC OF KOMI 40
JAROSLAVL 33
NOVOSIBIRSK 30
CHELJABINSK 28
NIZHNY NOVGOROD 26
ST. PETERSBURG AND LENINGRAD REGION 23
KRASNOJARSK 20
KABARDINO-BALKARIA 18
BASHKORTOSTAN 10
TOMSK 9
MURMANSK 7
ARKHANGELSK 4
KOSTROMA 4
LIPETSK 3
PENZA 3
ROSTOV 3
TVER 3
UDMURTIA 3
BELGOROD 2
EKATERINBURG AND SVERDLOVSK REGION 2
IRKUTSK 2
PERM 2
BRJANSK 1
VOLOGDA 1
VORONEZH 1
IVANOVO 1
KALININGRAD 1
KARELIA 1
KEMEROVO 1
KRASNODAR 1
KURSK 1
MAGADAN 1
NOVGOROD 1
SAKHALIN 1
STAVROPOL 1
TULA 1
TJUMEN 1
ULJANOVSK 1
KHABAROVSK 1
KHAKASSIA 1
ABROAD RUSSIA 3
--------------------------------------------------
TOTAL 695
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You can buy the postcards in Moscow office of the ARA or order them by post (minimum 10 postcards). For this, call ARA's office (095) 923-9127 or write to . You can write also by normal mail: Trubnaja Ul. 25-2-49, 103051 Moscow.1 postcard costs 1.50 RUR, when ordering 10 or more postcards - 1.00 RUR, 50 or more postcards - 0.80 RUR.
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