PRESS-RELEASE

Obninsk - Moscow, July 26, 2000

Today in the Obninsk City Court the second court trial on the case of Dmitry Neverovsky which lasted two days has come to an end. Neverovsky is a conscientious objector, a member of the ARA and the Radical Party, he was accused of "evading the military service" according to the Art. 328.1 of the Russian Criminal Code.

The counsel for the defense of Neverovsky represented by the famous Kaluga lawyer David Slitinsky, the mother of Dmitry and the deputy of the Obninsk City Assembly Tatiana Kotlyar, and the ARA secretary Nikolay Khramov, insisted on the acquital of the defendant for lack of the corpus delicti, basing on the Art. 59.3 and 18 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and on the well-known definition of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of May 22, 1996. Besides that, as David Slitinsky pointed out in his speech, the defendant at the moment of indictment wasn't liable for the military service because he had achieved to the moment the age of 27, and therefore the corpus delicti lacked in his actions for this reason as well.

The public prosecutor ignored the conclusion of the forensic psychological expertise prescribed by the prosecutor's office which defined that Neverovsky had convictions which contradicted the performance of the military service, and declared that "though the convictions of the defendant contradict the performance of the military service, they are not an obstacle to it" (!). He asked the court to sentence that Neverovsky is guilty of conscientiously evading the military service, to sentence him to two years of imprisonment and to discharge him by amnesty in view of the 55th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The sentence pronounced today by the judge Maria Kirosirova almost literally repeated the bill of indictment. The judge who could not totally ignore the conclusion of the forensic psychological expertise, pointed out in the sentence that the conclusion of the expertise was estimated by the court in the aggregate with all the evidences (that is, with the testimony of the military commissar colonel Podgursky who was subpoenaed as a witness, and the copies of the call up papers) and the court concluded that Neverovsky had not convictions which contradicted the performance of the military service. Neverovsky is sentenced to one year of imprisonment and discharged according to the act on amnesty adopted by the State Duma.

The cassation appeal against the today's sentence will be presented by the counsel for the defense of Neverovsky to the Kaluga Regional Court within few next days.

DECLARATION OF NIKOLAY KHRAMOV, THE ARA SECRETARY AND THE MEMBER OF THE COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE OF NEVEROVSKY:

"What was happening yesterday and today in Obninsk had nothing in common with the Justice, as it became clear. The judge Kirosirova didn't use her chance to pass a lawful sentence and to restore thus the fairly shaken authority of the Obninsk Court. Once more the political nature of the demonstrative reprisal organized in Obninsk in respect of Dmitry Neverovsky becomes evident. Neverovsky isn't just a conscientious objector like thousands others in today's Russia, he is an active member of the ARA and a courageous fighter against the criminal Chechen war who openly launched a desperate challenge against the militarist regime by his appeal to the Russian consripts: don't participate in the war crimes of the regime, conscientiously object to protest against the Chechen war! However, nobody actually denies the political nature of the Obninsk trial - the sentence openly states that the punishment on Neverovsky is inflicted taking into account the great public importance of the "crime" which he committed.

The today's sentence, like the previous one, will undoubtedly be repealed. This isn't the question, the question is - on what ground will this be done. The task of Dmitry and our own task - to achieve that this be done not "on technical reasons" but openly, lawfully: for lack of the corpus delicti.

And for sure we aren't going to let go unpunished the arbitrary rule of the unjust Obninsk judges - all these makarovskies, zinovs, kirosirovas and other officials performing special mission of the military-police department. We will take up the question of their activity which is inconsistent with the status of a judge immediately after the case of Neverovsky is won - be that in the Kaluga Regional Court, in the Russia's Supreme Court or in the European Court for the Human Rights".

For further information:

tel. (095) 208-1805, (902) 675-6379

Internet: www.ara.ru