THE CONSTITUTION IS NOT COUNTED

Tat'yana PODOLINA

The criminal trial of conscientious objector Vasilii Bozhenov continues in Tushinskii Court, Moscow. Bozhenov is accused of evading military service, according to Art. 328 of the Russian Criminal Code (up to two years of imprisonment).

[photo: Conscientious objector Vasilii Bozhenov is still on trial]

Convictions of the member of the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA) Vasilii Bozhenov, 21 years old, do not allow him to take armaments. Although the right to conscientiously object and to perform the alternative civilian service instead of military service is guaranteed by the Russian Constitution, the Military Registration and Enlistment Office and the Office of Public Prosecutor don't leave the young man in peace.

"We keep already many of those like you in prison" - that's how he was menaced in the Office of Public Prosecutor that in 1997 had brought a criminal action against him, Bozhenov says. However, similar menaces of military commissars, prosecutors and judges are non other than a lie. According to ARA representative Sergei Sorokin, at least in the capital similar trials have never concluded with an imprisonment. The worst possibility is to be put on probation with immediate amnesty. As far as the cases of the most obstinate conscientious objectors are concerned, as a rule, the Courts just close them. Thus, last year only Golovinskii Court of Moscow has closed four similar trials.

The actual situation of conscientious objectors testifies that the authorities are not in a hurry to defend the constitutional rights of citizens: the Courts prefer not to pronounce the verdict of "not guilty", but to drag their cases. Bozhenov's trial started in July 1998. Since then he has been keeping the written undertaking not to leave the place.