By-monthly agency of antimilitarist actions

Issue # 33, February 15, 2000

Published in English and Russian

by the Antimilitarist Radical Association (ARA),

an association of the Transnational Radical Party

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>>> THE CASE OF NEVEROVSKII: HIS VERDICT REPEALED, BUT HE IS

>>> BACK IN THE PRISON

On February 8, 2000 Kaluga Regional Court has examined the cassation appeal of Dmitrii Neverovskii, member of the Radical Party and the ARA, sentenced on November 25, 1999 by City Court of Obninsk to two years of imprisonment (Art. 328. 1 of the Russian Criminal Code, "evading the military service").

His defence, represented by famous Kaluga advocate David Slitinskii and the mother of Dmitrii Neveroskii Tat'yana Kotlyar, activist of the right-defence movement, and Nikolai Khramov, ARA Secretary, insisted on his verdict to be repealed and his case to be closed for the lack of corpus delicti. The Prosecutor asked to send the case back for further investigation, leaving Neverovskii in the prison.

The Court decided to repeal the verdict of the Obninsk City Court under a rather strange pretext - during the trial the right of Neverovskii to defence had not been properly guaranteed because neither Tat'yana Kotlyar, nor Nikolai Khramov had a degree in law (although Art. 47 of the Criminal Proceedings Code does not specify this point).

At the same time the Court did not say a word about the eventual modification of punishment and Dmitrii Neverovskii was brought back from the Court room to the prison with his hand-cuffs on.

During the examination of the case Kaluga Regional Court has found out numerous limitations of transparency and openness of the trial: representatives of the media and public organisations were not allowed to be present at the trial in Obninsk and had to wait for the decision of the Court for more than six hours in the street.

Before the beginning of the trial, since 9:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m., militants of the Radical Party from Kaluga and Moscow have been holding at the Court a piquet of solidarity with Dmitrii Neverovskii and other Russian conscientious objectors.

Dmitrii Neverovskii has been staying in Kaluga investigation prison IZ-37/1 since November 25, 1999. In his cell, planned for 8 people, there are 25 prisoners, they have to sleep in shifts. In this period Neverovskii was put in the isolation cell twice - for 10 and 2 days to be spent in a stone pocket, without any heating when it was very cold: -20 C. Thus, one can consider it as torturing the prisoner. Neverovskii and his mother, Tat'yana Kotl'yar, think that the prison administration treats his so badly in order to revenge itself upon for the criminal case, brought by Dmitrii against the administration for he was not allowed to take part in the Parliamentary elections of December 19, 1999.

On January 20, 2000 the European Parliament has expressed its profound concern with he case of Neverovskii. In its resolution on the situation in Chechnya the Parliament has called to revise the case of Neverovksii in accordance with the Russian Constitution (find the text of the Resolution in the previous issue of the Antimilitarist On-line (N. 32)).

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=> THE VERDICT OF "NOT GUILTY" TO ALEKSANDR EGOROV COMES INTO FORCE

January 18, St Petersburg. Leningrad Regional Court has rejected the cassation appeal of the Prosecutor concerning the verdict of "not guilty" pronounced on November 22, 1999 by the City Court of Slantsy (Leningrad region) to Aleksandr Egorov. Egorov - a conscientious objector, fighting for his right to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service - was accused of evading the military service (Art. 328.1. of the Russian Criminal Code). However, the City Court of Slantsy has passed the judgement of "not guilty" for the lack of corpus delicti. Now the verdict has come into force. Please, find the text of the verdict at Page Two of this issue.

=> VASILII BAZHENOV REFUSES TO CLOSE HIS CRIMINAL CASE

February 2, Moscow. New trial of Vasilii Bazhenov, member of the ARA and conscientious objector, took place in the Intermunicipal Court Tushinskii, Moscow. Bazhenov is accused of evading the military service (Art. 328 of the Russian Criminal Code). Before the beginning of the trial two dozens of militants of the Radical Party and the ARA held at the Court entrance a piquet of solidarity with Vasilii Bazhenov and other conscientious objectors fighting for their constitutional right. Judge Lunina proposed to Bazhenov to close his case for the expire of the prescription (Art. 78 of the Russian Criminal Code and Art. 5.3 of the Criminal Proceedings Code). The accused refused to close his case and declared that he did not consider himself guilty and was going to fight for the verdict of "not guilty".

=> THE FIRST ACTION OF THE RENEWED ANTIMILITARY ACTION COMMITTEE

February 6, Moscow. A piquet against the Chechen war took place in Moscow, at the Ministry of Defence in Arbatskaya square. This manifestation was organised by the Antimilitary Action Committee, renewed last December. In the past this Committee did a lot to mobilise the public opinion against the First Chechen war. The renewed Committee includes representatives of several non-government and political organisations: Memorial, Democratic Perspective, Antimilitarist Radical Association, Radical Party, Antifascist Youth Action, Union of the Committees of the Mothers of Soldiers of Russia, Youth Human Rights Centre, Anarchist Antimilitary Action, Right-Defence Net, Democratic Union, Economic Freedom Party, Democracy and Human Rights Development Centre, Information Centre of the Independent Women's Forum, International Non-violence, Youth Right Defence Movement, etc.

=> THE VERDICT OF GUILTY TO A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR IN NOVROGOD

February 9, Novgorod. Today the City Court of Novgorod has sentenced Arkadii Zarakovskii to a year of imprisonment on probation. Zarakovkii is a conscientious objector fighting for his right to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service. The cassation appeal is already presented at Novgorod Regional Court.

=> ANOTHER ANTIWAR PIQUET AT THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

February 13, Moscow. By initiative of the Antiwar Action Committee about one hundred militants of different democratic organisations, including the Radical Party and the ARA, have hold the second manifestation against the Chechen war near the Ministry of Defence in Moscow. The slogans of the militants protested against the operations of the federal government in Chechnya and called for an immediate liberation of Andrei Babitskii, correspondent of Svoboda radio, and Dmitrii Neverovskii, conscientious objector.

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=> FEBRUARY 19, MOSCOW, TEATRAL'NAYA SQUARE:

MASS MANIFESTATION AGAINST THE CHECHEN WAR

On Saturday, February 19, a mass manifestation against the Chechen war is to be held in Moscow - it is going to be the most important antiwar action in Russian since the beginning of the Chechen war. This manifestation is organised by the Antiwar Action Committee. It will open at 2:00 p.m. by a meeting in Teatral'naya square, near the monument of Karl Marx. Then the militants will walk by Teatral'nyi proezd to Solovetskii stone in Lubyanka, at 3:30 p.m. they will lay flowers to the stone and hold a brief meeting.

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>>> SECOND PAGE <<<

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THE CASE OF ALEKSANDR EGOROV:

THE VERDICT OF THE CITY COURT OF SLANTSEVSK, LENINGRAD REGION

Case N 1-1516

Slantsy

VERDICT

in the name of the Russian Federation

On November 22, 1999 the City Court of Slantsevsk, Leningrad region,

including President Sidorova S.Ya.

People's assessors

with participation

of Prosecutor

and Counsel for the defence Maslennikova V.D.

public accuser

public defence Zaychenkova S.I.

Secretary Dmitrieva A.R.

having examined in full session the case of Egorov Aleksandr Yur'evich,

born on June 15, 1975 in Slantsy, Leningrad region, Russian, higher education, bachelor; occupation: programmer in Laboratory of the "Factory Slantsy", resident in Slantsy, Leningrad region, ul. Sverdlova, 20, ap. 3; no previous convictions,

- accused of having committed a crime, provided by Art. 328. 1 of the Russian Criminal Code.

Having examined the proofs concerning the case, the Court

HAS ASCERTAINED:

that Erogov A. Yu. is accused of having evaded the military service without any valid grounds to be exempted from it. In accordance with the accuse conclusions, Egorov A. Yu. has committed the actions he is accused of under the following circumstances: Egorov A. Yu., being liable for the military service in Spring 1999, has deliberately evaded the call up for military service. On April 4, 1999, he received his call up papers, but refused to present himself to the Military Commissariat of Slantsy, Leningrad region under the pretext that his convictions did not allow him to take the arms and that he applied for the alternative civilian service while the decision of the City Court of Slantsy Leningrad region, of November 12, 1998, confirmed by the decision of the Leningrad Regional Court of February 4, 1999, refused to satisfy his complaint against the Enlistment Commission; the Commission refused to satisfy his applications and offered him to perform his service in the troops of the Ministry of Extraordinary s

ituations of the Russian Federation. Egorov A. Yu. did not recognise his guilt and declared to the Court that it was his firm conviction not to take the arms and to apply violence against the others. For this reason, according to Art. 59.3. of the Russian Constitution, he asked the Military Commissariat of Slantsy several times to allow him to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service. However the staff of the Military Commissariat explained to him that in the Russian Federation there was no civilian service and offered him to perform his military service in the special troops of the Ministry of Extraordinary Situations. He refused to do so, because in these troops he also had to take his oath with arms in his hands; after that he would not be able any more to refuse to use the arms and execute the orders of his officers, so he though that this proposal of the Military Commissariat did not solve his problem and did violate his constitutional right to the alternative civilian se

rvice. By the end of 1998 - spring 1999 he presented at the Enlistment Commission of the Military Commissariat his written application for the alternative civilian service in accordance with Art. 59.3 of the Russian Constitution. Witness Nikitin V.K. gave evidence that being an officer of the Russian Army and of the Military Commissariat of Slantsy, Enlistment and Call up Department, in 1998-99 he talked several times with the conscript Egorov A. Yu. trying to explain to Egorov that it was necessary for him to serve in the Army and that he could perform his military service in the special troops of the Ministry of Extraordinary Situations. However, Egorov A. Yu. refused to perform this kind of service. First he declared that he could not leave alone his mother, a pensioner, later on he passed to the version that his convictions did not allow him to take the arms. This position of the conscript Egorov was considered by the Military Commissariat as a deliberate evasion form the military service.

Witness Egorova T. I., the mother of the accused Egorov A. Yu., gave evidence that her son was against the violence, that he had never taken part in any violent action, that for more than 5 years he had been following a severe diet, excluding the meet at all. He did not refuse to serve his motherland and was ready to perform his service in the alternative civilian troops, according to Art. 59.3 of the Russian Constitution.

The Court has found out that Egorov A. Yu. did not evade his civil duty and was ready to perform the alternative civilian service. The arguments of the accused concerning his application for the alternative civilian service because of his convictions were not refuted by the preliminary investigation. The reference of the preliminary investigation to the decision of the City Court of Slantsy, Leningrad region, of November 12, 1998, and the decision of the Leningrad Regional Civil Case Board of February 4, 1999, concerning the refusal to satisfy the complaint lodged by Egorov A. Yu. against the decisions of the enlistment commission, which had refused to satisfy his application for the alternative civilian service, was not grounded.

The trial has examined well enough the reality of convictions of Egorov A. Yu. that allow him to perform the alternative civilian service. As the accused Egorov A. Yu. has presented to the Court the proofs of his convictions that do not allow him to perform the military service and to take his oath, because it is his conviction that every conflict is to be solved only by negotiations and peaceful means, without violence and arms, Egorov A. Yu. is convinced that he may be more useful for his Motherland if he performs the alternative civilian service instead of the military service. The Court considers that his education, his way of life and his arguments prove the fact that Egorov A. Yu. does have the convictions giving him the right, according to Art. 59.3. of the Russian Constitution, to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service.

The Court has heard the accused and the witnesses, it has examined all the proofs and has come to the following conclusion:

According to Art. 15.1 of the Russian Constitution "The Constitution of the Russian Federation has the supreme juridical force, is of direct action and is valid on the whole territory of the Russian Federation. The laws and other normatives, adopted in the Russian Federation, must not contradict the Constitution of the Russian Federation". According to Art. 29.1, 29.3 of the Russian Constitution, everybody is guaranteed the right to the freedom of thought and word, no one can be forces to express his opinions and convictions or to negate them. According to Art. 1.5. of the Military duty and military service federal law of March 28, 1998, citizens have the right to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service, in accordance with the Russian Constitution and the Federal law. According to Art. 28.1. of the Military duty and military service federal law, it is the duty of the Enlistment Commission to take the decision concerning the call up for the military service, the performance of

the alternative civilian service, etc. The right of the citizen to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service is provided by the Constitution of the Russian Federation and by the Military duty and military service federal law; that is, Egorov A. Yu. had the right to choose, having declared that he conscientiously objected. The Constitution of the Russian Federation (Art. 59.3.) says that in case convictions and believes of the citizen do not allow him to perform the military service and in other cases, provided by the law, the citizen has the right to perform the alternative civilian service instead. The lack of the relevant federal law, specifying the procedure and the conditions for performing the alternative e civilian service instead of the military service, impede the citizens to exercise their constitutional right, firs of all, in "other cases", that such a law should specify in accordance with the Constitution, Art. 59.3. At the same time, the right of the citizens, whos

e convictions do not allow them to perform the military service, to perform the alternative civilian service, specified in the Constitution, as well as other human and civilian rights and freedoms ( Art. 18 of the Constitution) should be guaranteed independently of the existence of the relevant federal law. The wish of the citizen to exercise his consti tutional right in a way not prohibited by the law may not be a valid ground for putting him on criminal trial and other kinds of persecution. In any specific case, concerning the application of the legislation in vigour, the Court applies the Constitution of the Russian Federation as having a direct juridical force and recognises the right of Egorov A. Yu. to perform the alternative civilian service instead of the military service; thus, in his actions there is no corpus delicti specified in Art. 328.1 of the Russian Criminal Code.

Therefore, according to Art. 300-303, 309, 316 of the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, the Court

HAS SENTENCED:

EGOROV ALEKSANDR YUR'EVICH is not guilty of having committed crimes provided by Art. 328.1. of the Russian Criminal Code for the lack of corpus delicti.

The preventive measures - the written undertaking not to leave the place - is to be abolished after the verdict comes into force.

The verdict can be appealed against at the Leningrad Regional Court in 7 days after its reading, the appeal is to be passed through the City Court that has passed this verdict.

Judge

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