By-monthly agency of antimilitarist actions
Issue # 29, December 29, 1999
Published in English and Russian
by the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA),
an association of the Transnational Radical Party
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ARA - ANTIMILITARIST RADICAL ASSOCIATION
Pechatnikov Pereulok 6, 103045 Moscow, Russia
Tel. +7-095-208.1805, 208.4902
Fax +7-095-208.1805
mailto:ara@glasnet.ru
http://www.ara.ru
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Previous issues are available on our website at http://www.ara.ru
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=> EGOR GAIDAR DEFENDS NEVEROVSKII
Moscow. President of the "Democratic choice of Russia" Egor Gaidar made a declaration in defence of a member of the ARA Dmitrii Neverovskii, sentenced to two years of imprisonment because he conscientiously objected to protest against Chechen war. "The objective of a superior court is to determine the lawfulness of this verdict. The objective of a qualification commission is to value the professional qualities of the judge. A democratic politician should first and foremost value the following circumstances, - declares the leader of the "Democratic choice", - the verdict and the circumstances of the trial menace the fundamental human rights such as the freedom of thought and convictions, they menace the fundamental principles of democracy; the circumstances of the trial make us question independence of the judge".
=> "GLASNOST'" FOUNDATION DEFENDS NEVEROVSKII
Moscow. The public foundation "Glasnost'", in person of its President Sergei Grigoryants, expressed its position on the verdict of Dmitrii Neverovskii. Grigoryants says in his declaration: "The President of the Obninsk City Court Yakov Makarovskii has seriously violated the Russian Constitution, Art. 59.3, that obliges the authorities to allow to the citizens with anti-war convictions to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service. The Court has openly ignored the fact that in Russia the lack of the legislation does not abolish the direct action of the Constitution. Among about a hundred of conscripts insisting on their right to perform the alternative civilian service only Neverovskii was tried and sentenced to imprisonment. Probably the reason is the right-defence public activity of the mother of Neverovskii Tat'yana Kotlyar. Now T. Kotlyar is an official candidate to the State Duma in Dzerzhinskii electoral district N 85. No doubt, this shameful trial should be considered as u
nacceptable means of electoral struggle of the authorities against an inconvenient candidate; the attempts to squeeze on Kotlyar date back to soviet epoch and never really stopped".
=> THE MOVEMENT "FOR HUMAN RIGHTS" DEFENDS NEVEROVSKII
December 6, Moscow. The movement "For Human Rights" has made a declaration "Soviet justice has been useful: Dmitrii Neverovskii is a prisoner of conscience". The declaration says: "We are convinced that the unprecedented and, in essence, an anti-constitutional verdict of the Obninsk City Court was not only aimed at intimidating conscientious objectors, whose number in Kaluga region is rather great, but it is also an example of an open politicization of the justice. We think that the trial on Dmitrii Neverovskii is one of purely political trials in the present-day Russia and it is a signal that the authorities are now leaving even the decorative forms of a lawful system. We understand that if the authorities do not face any resistance now, in the future they will use the juridical system more and more against their political and ideological opponents. That is why we appeal to the public opinion to launch a large-scale campaign for liberation and justification of the prisoner of conscience - antimilitarist Dmi
trii Antonovich Neverovskii!".
=> MANIFESTATIONS OF SOLIDARITY WITH DMITRII NEVEROVSKII
December 16, Kaluga. The Radical Party and the ARA have organized manifestations of solidarity with Dmitrii Neverovskii who conscientiously objected to protest against Chechen war. On November 25 the Obninsk City Court sentenced him to two years of imprisonment. At midday there was a manifestation at the Office of the Public Prosecutor of Kaluga region in Kutuzova Street. About twenty militants took part in this manifestation, with the flags with Mahatma Gandhi profile (emblem of the Radical Party) and slogans of solidarity with Neverovskii and of protest against the Chechen war and the persecution for conscientious objection. During this manifestations the radicals were collecting signatures under the appeal to the Public Prosecutor of Kaluga region, calling him to protest the unjust verdict in cassation. ARA Secretary Nikolai Khramov, deputy of Kaluga City Council Sergei Fadeev, the mother of Dmitrii Neverovskii Tat'yana Kotlyar (deputy of the Obninsk City Assembly and candidate to the State Duma in electo
ral district 85 (Dzerzhinskii)); members of the ARA Secretariat Alyona Asaeva and Sergei Vorontsov took part in the manifestation. At 3:00 p.m. a similar demonstration was carried out at the gate of Kaluga prison SIZO-37/01 in Nikolo-Kazinskaya Street. Tat'yana Fedyaeva, independent candidate to the State Duma in electoral district 86 joined the demonstrators.
=> ASSEMBLY OF THE RADICALS OF KALUGA
December 16, Kaluga. In the evening in Narodnyi Dom (People's House) Sergei Fadeev and Nikolai Khramov presided an open assembly of the radicals of Kaluga. About 30 people were present. A candidate to the State Duma from Kaluga - "Yabloko" representative Galina Bozhedomova joined the Assembly. She promised to make everything possible for the soonest liberation of Dmitry Neverovsky and defend the rights of other conscientious objectors. The Assembly has unanimously adopted its final document; in particular, it has expressed in it its solidarity with Dmitrii Neverovskii and has called all Russian conscripts to conscientiously object to protest against the Chechen war. Please, find this document at the Second Page of this issue.
=> LOSSES OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY IN CHECHNYA
December 17, Moscow. The Ministry of Defence and the Interior Ministry Forces have lost in the anti-terrorist operations in Dagestan and Chechnya 533 people. The losses of the Armed Forces are 404, of the IMF 129. (Polit.Ru)
=> DUMA ELECTIONS: VICTORY OF THE WAR PARTY
December 19, Moscow. Late in the evening preliminary results of Duma elections were announced. Secretary of the ARA Nikolai Khramov comments: "The victory of the war party is obvious - different position of its components in the bulletins are of no importance. Well, this result was easy to predict. The war party includes them all (not only "Medved", composed by Putin of governors that have left Luzhkov) with its official first rate, except for the "Yabloko". One may say that, unfortunately, the war party in Russia includes the majority of the population. This is proved not only by these elections. I do not agree with those who explain the good results of the Right Forces Coalition by the support demonstrated by the coalition to Putin and Chechen war. It seems to me that people have voted for the RFC because it is a party that has a coherent liberal, liberist position - for the rights of individual, of free enterprise and labour, for the law-abiding state, for integration of Russia in the Western community. A
nd - last but not least - because the RFC is for the abolition of conscription and the transition to the professional army. Unfortunately, in the electoral bulletins there was no party for which the radicals could vote without reserves; the radicals, fighting for the freedom of individual, for economic freedoms, against militarist and statism, for the Right to Life and the Life of Right. Evidently such a party may appear in our country only at the next elections. We will do everything possible to give to our fellow-citizens, who share the same values with the radicals, the possibility to vote for the like-minded people."
=> NEW PERIODICAL OF RUSSIAN RADICALS
December 28, Moscow. The first issue (January 2000) of the monthly information bulletin "Radical news" ("Radikal'nye novosti"), published by the Radical Party, the ARA and Club Khramov was printed in Moscow (1000 copies). Radical news is a black and white illustrated edition, 8 pages format A4. It informs about the activity of the radicals - both in Russia and at the transnational level. The bulletin will be distributed free by post to all members of the Radical Party, the ARA and of Club Khramov. You may also get it in the office of the Radical Party in Moscow (Pechatnikov pereulok), Sakharov Museum and Public Center and at all public initiatives of the radicals. The first issue tells about the antimilitarist and anti-war initiatives in Russia and about direct non-violent actions of Italian radicals for the legalization of light drugs.
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>>> THE THIRD MILLENNIUM WITHOUT CONSCRIPTION SLAVERY <<<
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By December 29, 1999 we managed to collect 8413 signatures in 76 Russian regions under the petition "The Third millennium without conscription slavery". The regions where more than 10 signatures have been collected:
Moscow...............................................4858
Moscow region.........................................760
Volgograd region......................................234
Komi republic.........................................209
Krasnodar territory...................................183
Yaroslavl' region.....................................180
Kaluga region.........................................168
Udmurtiya.............................................140
Ryazan' region........................................115
Chelyabinsk region....................................113
Ekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk region....................109
Tver' region..........................................106
Tula region.. .........................................92
Perm' region...........................................78
Vladimir region........................................74
Stavropol' territory...................................74
Sankt Petersburg and Leningrad region..................59
Yeveryskaya (Iewosh) autonomous oblast'................57
Oryol region...........................................57
Rostov region..........................................57
Penza region...........................................53
Mary-El republic.......................................50
Krasnoyarsk territory..................................48
Nizhnii Novgorod region................................42
Orenburg region........................................41
Voronezh region........................................38
Arkhangelsk region.....................................35
Mordoviya..............................................23
Saratov region.........................................21
Ivanovo region.........................................17
Tyumen' region.........................................17
Bryansk region.........................................16
Dagestan...............................................16
Lipetsk region ........................................13
Tambov region..........................................13
Novosibirsk region.....................................12
Smolensk region........................................11
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>>> SOON <<<
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=> DECEMBER 30, MOSCOW 6.00 p.m. - "Anti-war New Year". Demonstration of the Radical Party and the ARA at the Ministry of Defence in Arbatskaya square (near "Khudozhestevennyi" cinema and "Arbatskaya" metro station) against the war in Chechnya, in defence of Dmitrii Neverovskii, for the Third millennium without conscription slavery.
=> JANUARY 12, NOVGOROD 9:00 a.m. - The first session of the criminal trial of Arkadii Zarakovskii, a conscientious objector, accused of "evading military service" (Art. 328.1 of the Russian Criminal Code). The Court is situated in ul. Lermonotova,19.
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FINAL DOCUMENT OF THE OPEN ASSEMBLY OF THE RADICALS OF KALUGA AND KALUGA REGION
Kaluga, December 16, 1999
Adopted unanimously with 27 votes
We, the participants of the open assembly of the radicals of Kaluga and Kaluga region, members of the Transnational Radical Party, members and adherents of the Antimilitarist Radical Association, militants of the right-defence movement, ordinary citizens, devoted to the ideals of freedom, individual rights, adversaries of militarism and authoritarianism,
united in Kaluga on December 16, 1999,
convey our sincere solidarity with our comrade Dmitrii Neverovskii, member of the Radical Party and the Antimilitarist Radical Association, that conscientiously objected to protest against the war in Chechnya and on November 25, 1999, was sentenced by the Obninsk City Court to two years of imprisonment.
The unjust verdict of the Obninsk City Court that contradicts the right of every citizen to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service, guaranteed by the Russian Constitution, is the first verdict of guilty in Kaluga region of a conscientious objector. We consider it a menace to the fundamental rights of individual and to the fundamental principles of democracy.
We do not deny the right - and the sacred duty of the State to defend the lives of its citizens, their rights and properties from the criminal infringements of bandits and terrorists. However, we definitely condemn the war against Chechen people - in fact, today it is being waged, as it used to be five years ago, by our government and by our armed forces in Chechnya. We appeal to all democratic forces in Russia to do everything possible in order to mobilize Russian public opinion in defence of the civilian population of Grozny, risking to face starvation, cold and death of bombs and projectiles - independently of their nationality.
We declare that we support the anti-war initiative of conscientious objectors - authors of the manifest "Without us, please!". We join their appeal to all Russian draftees to conscientiously object to protest against the Chechen war.
We appreciate the initiative of the Radical Party and the ARA "The Third millennium without conscription slavery": collection of signatures under the petition for the abolition of conscription and the transition to an entirely professional army. This is the first public political initiative of the kind in Russia. At the same time, we are worried about very slow progress of the campaign for collection signatures under this document.
We appeal to all people of Kaluga region that sympathize with the idea of the abolition of conscription to join the collection of signatures under the petition "The Third millennium without conscription slavery". The objective of this campaign is to collect by February 2000 at least 5 000 signatures of the inhabitants of Kaluga and Kaluga region.
Three days before the elections to the State Duma we cannot but ask ourselves for which political movement the antimilitarists, those who fight for freedom and human rights, should vote on December 19. We welcome the anti-war position of the leader of "Yabloko" Grigorii Yavlinskii. At the same time, although we cannot accept the conformist, pro-militarist and statist rhetoric of some leaders the Right Forces Coalition, we still consider the RFC the major liberal political force, defending the ideals of freedom and law-abiding state. Russia does deserve that this time the liberals pass the 5% barrier and form their parliament group in the State Duma.
In this situation we call all our fellow-citizens to decide by themselves for which of the two democratic forces they would vote: RFC or "Yabloko".
As far as the uninominal electoral districts are concerned, we are calling you to vote for our comrade member of the ARA General Council Tat'yana Kotlyar, candidate in electoral district 85 (Dzerzhinskii).
We are deeply concerned about the dramatic inadequacy of the possibilities of the ARA, of the Radical Party and other antimilitarist forces in their opposition to the anti-constitutional actions of the authorities against the conscientious objectors.
At the moment when the membership campaign 2000 of the Transnational Radical Party and the Antimilitarist Radical Association starts, we appeal to all members and adherents to confirm their membership in 2000 as soon as possible. We also appeal to everybody who has never participated in the activity of these associations. Make your choice and help us with your membership to guarantee the success of the campaign "The Third millennium without conscription slavery" in 2000 as well as of other initiatives in defence of the Right to Life and the Life of Right.
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=> Check out websites of the Transnational Radical Party
=> http://www.radicalparty.org
=> and the Antimilitarist Radical Association http://www.ara.ru
