Agency of the antimilitarist action

No. 20 * August 10, 1999

Edited by the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA),

an association of the Transnational Radical Party.

Russian and English editions.

Published with support of the "Open Society Institute.

Assistance Foundation".

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TELEX

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THE CASE OF TSATURYAN: JUDGE PECHENINA HAS PUT THE SUPREME

COURT "IN ITS PLACE"

Moscow, July 23. The Intermunicipal Court Presnenskii has

examined for the second time the complaint lodged by

conscientious objector, member of the ARA John Tsaturyan

against the decision of the enlistment commission to call him

up for the military service although he declared that he

conscientiously objected. The previous decision of the Court

Presnenskii refusing to satisfy his complaint was revoked by

the vice president of the Russian Supreme Court V. M. Zhuikov

in the framework of the Directorate of Public Prosecutors and

was to be examined once again at the same court by a different

board of judges. Judge Tat'yana Pechenina refused once again

the satisfy the complaint of Tsaturyan.

THE COLLECTION OF SIGNATURES STARTS IN LOBNYA

Lobnya (Moscow region), August 3. The militants of the ARA and

of the Radical Party placed their table in the square near the

railway station of this small town in Moscow region. In one

hour they managed to collect 48 signatures under the petition

"The Third millennium without conscription slavery" and 26

roubles of contributions. Therefore, one more town joined the

collection of signatures for a professional army.

THE COMMITTEE OF THE MOTHERS OF SOLDIERS DEFENDS THE RIGHT TO

CONSCIENTIOUSLY OBJECT

Moscow, August 5. The Committee of the Mothers of Soldiers has

sent an open appeal to President Elzin, to Procurator-General

Skuratov and Minister of Justice Krashennikov asking them to

put an end to the situation when the judges de facto deny the

right of the citizens to conscientiously object under the

pretext of the "unproved" convictions of conscientious

objectors. Find the text of this letter at Page 2 of this

issue.

A STREET TABLE IN ZVENIGOROD

Zvenigorod (Moscow region), August 6. The radicals have placed

their first street table at the city marked and in this way

they have launched the petition campaign "The third millennium

without conscription slavery" in Zvenigorod. In an hour they

managed to collect 40 signatures of inhabitants of Zvenigorod

and muscovites spending their holidays in this town.

PRESENTATION OF THE PETITION CAMPAIGN FOR THE ABOLITION OF

CONSCRIPTION IN TULA

Tula, August 10. The regional presentation of the all-Russian

petition campaign "The Third millennium without conscription

slavery'" took place in Tula in the local House of Teacher.

Among the participants of the presentation there were Eduard

Pashchenko, president of the Tula regional branch of the

"Democratic choice of Russia" party; ARA Secretary Nikolai

Khramov, archbishop Nikon (Lamekin), member of the ARA General

Council, and Kirill Shulika, vice president of the ARA General

Council. It was decided to establish a local initiative group

that would carry out this campaign. The group will be co-

ordinated by Valentina Stepanova, militant of the Committee of

the Mothers of Soldiers in Tula Region.

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THE THIRD MILLENIUM WITHOUT CONSCRIPTION SLAVERY: DEVELOPMENT

OF THE CAMPAIGN

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On July 29, 1999 1734 signatures in 54 Russian regions were

collected under the petition "The third millennium without

conscription slavery". In the following regions more than 10

signatures were collected:

Moscow...................................................1050

Moscow region.............................................152

Tula region................................................59

Oryol region...............................................55

Penza region...............................................55

Mari-El republic...........................................50

Tver' region...............................................42

Rostov region..............................................41

Nizhnii Novgorod region....................................37

Kaluga region..............................................23

Ryazan' region.............................................23

Vladimir region............................................17

Sankt Petersburg and Leningrad region......................11

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COMING SOON

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TVER', AUGUST 12:

Local presentation of the petition campaign "The Third

millennium without conscription slavery" will take place in

"Vulkan" cinema (ul. Vol'nogo Novgoroda, 23) at 6:00 p.m. ARA

Secretary Nikolai Khramov will be present.

MOSCOW, AUGUST 16:

A cassation examination of the case of Viktor Sekerin - a

conscientious objector who had lodged a complaint against the

decision of the Intermunicipal Court Nagatinskii of Moscow that

had refused to satisfy his complaint against the decision of

the enlistment commission - will take place at the Moscow City

Court (Bogoroditskii val, 8, room 346).

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THE SECOND PAGE

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Concerning the constitutional right of the citizens to replace

the military service by the alternative civilian service

to the President of Russia

B.N. Elzin

To the Procurator-General of the Russian Federation

Ju.I. SKURATOV

To the Minister of Justice of the Russian Federation

P.V. KRASHENNIKOV

To the Vice Director of the Administration of the President of

the Russian Federation,

member of the Joint Commission for Co-ordination of the law-

making activity

R.G. OREKHOV

To the Vice Military Commissar of Moscow

V. KRASNOGORSKII

Many citizens of call up age, residents of various subjects of

the Russian Federation, who consider it impossible to execute

the duties of the service in the armed forces because of their

internal convictions appeal to the Committee of the Mothers of

Soldiers of Russia.

All of them want to exercise their right, guaranteed by the

Russian Constitution in Art. 59.3., to replace the military

service by the alternative civilian service.

Many of them appeal to the Russian President - the guarantor of

the Constitution of the Russian Federation - asking him to

confirm their constitutional rights:

"to have and to propagate their religious or other convictions

and to act according to them" (Art. 28 of the Russian

Constitution); not to be forced to "express their opinions and

convictions or to deny them" (Art. 29 of the Russian

Constitution); "in case his convictions or

beliefs contradict the military service and in other cases

provided by the federal legislation has the

right to replace it by the alternative civilian service"( Art.

59 of the Russian Constitution); to explain how one can

exercise his right to conscientiously object.

However, the answers to these appeals to the President of the

Russian Federation either informed that actually it was not

possible to exercise this constitutional right or proposed to

perform the alternative civilian (?) service in the same

military units where the call up service is being performed

(find enclosed copies of typical answers).

In these answers the citizens are also proposed to (find copies

enclosed):

"confirm convictions with documents that prove their

membership in a religious sect or in a public antimilitary

movement" (letter N 2/974 of May 18, 1998 signed by the

Military Commissar of Udmurt Republic);

"cofirm the convictions of a conscripts with a help of an

independent commission" (letter N 2/2843 of December 12, 1997

signed by the Military Commissar of Tula region).

We would like to draw you attention to the fact that the

answers arrive form the executive power bodies, responsible for

the performance of the military service; from the Minister of

Defence, from Military Commissars of subjects of the Russian

Federation and its regions, but not from presidents of the

enlistment commissions of the military commissariats -

according to the Military duty and military service federal law

N 53-F3 of May 28, 1998 these duties are performed by the heads

of administrations of regions and subjects of the Russian

Federation or their vices - representatives of the civil power,

well informed about the social problems of Russian regions that

may be solved also with the help of the citizens that declare

that they conscientiously object and would like to perform the

alternative civilian service instead of the military service.

The notifications form the Administration of the President of

the Russian Federation (find copies enclosed) also prove that

all the appeals to the President - guarantor of the

Constitution of the Russian Federation - are being regularly

passed to the military administration bodies.

At the same time the Department of the Presidential

Administration, responsible to provide the work of the

Presidential Human Right Commission in its letter to the

Minister of Defence N A34-66242 of May 22, 1997 (one copy sent

to one of conscripts) as well as in its answer N A13-2-500 of

September 22, 1998 to the Committee of the Mothers of Soldiers

of Nizhnii Novgorod says that "the normative of the Russian

Constitution has a direct action and should be provided

independently of the fact if a corresponding federal law has

been approved or not".

We think that only this position corresponds to the Russian

Constitution, therefore, the answers that the citizens get from

central and local military administration bodies demonstrate

that the constitutional normatives (Art. 15, 28, 29 , 59.3, 80)

and international acts, ratified by Russia (Art. 18 of the

Universal Human Rights Declaration; Art. 18, 19 of the

International Convenant on Civil and Political Rights; Art. 9,

10 of the European Convenant on Defending Human Rights and

Fundamental Freedoms) are being neglected.

One of the recent letters of the Military Commissar of Moscow

(N 2/782 of October 8, 1998) addressed to the Military

Commissar of Military Commissariat of Tsaritsino, recommends

the regional commissariat to examine the case of a citizen at a

session of the enlistment commission. The same letter informs

about the right of the citizen to lodge a complaint against the

decision of the enlistment commission at a court, that is, it

is proposed to pass the solution of the problem to the

juridical power.

We think that, taking into consideration the unprecedented

character of the Russian juridical system, the President of the

Russian Federation as a guarantor of the Constitution, should

explain the mechanism of how one can exercise his

constitutional right to perform the alternative civilians

service instead of the military service.

We ask you to provide us a written grounded motivation

(addressed to us) concerning the right of the Russian citizens

to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the

military service and its mechanism.

Please, find enclosed the copies of the above mentioned

letters.

Sincerely yours,

on behalf of the Co-ordination Council of the Committee of the

Mothers of Soldiers of Russia, Secretaries of the CMSR:

Yu. L. Goryacheva, I.N. Kuklina, V.D. Mel'nikova.

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