For Immediate Release
May 22, 2000
(Russian)

Jehovah's Witness, kept against his will in a military unit, protects his rights in court

On May 19, 2000, the Krasnooktyabrskiy District Court of Volgograd granted the complaint of Aleksandr Minakov, who to this day remains in custody at a military unit, due to the wrongful actions of the draft board. As one of Jehovah's Witnesses, Aleksandr, asked for substitution of military service with alternative civil service based on his conscientious objection.

Early in the morning on December 21, 1999, the officers with the Krasnooktyabrskiy District military registration and enlistment office and the district police department in Volgograd took Aleksandr Minakov to the military registration and enlistment office. Then, against his will, he was placed in a railway car and was sent to a military unit in the city of Svobodnyy-7, Amur Region, nearly 8000 km away at the opposite end of the country. Aleksandr did not have any winter clothes, documents or money. Because he did not have an opportunity to receive the necessary legal help, he was only able to submit his complaint against the decision of the draft board to call him to military service against his objections in May. He also managed to send his aunt a power of attorney to represent his interests in court.

The hearing was held on May 19 at the Krasnooktyabrskiy District Court of Volgograd. Irina Aniskova, representative of the district prosecutor's office, was present for the hearing and supported Minakov's complaint against the draft board's decision. Judge Lyudmila Yekimova rendered her decision: grant the complaint and recognize the draft board's decision to Minakov to military service against his beliefs as illegal.

"The right to refuse military service due to conscientious objection conscience and substitute it with alternative civil service is enshrined in Article 59(3) of the Russian Constitution," said lawyer Artur Leontyev. "According to the Constitutional Court's decision of November 23, 1999, this right does not require further specification and is directly applicable. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with the constitutional rights of citizens. In particular, certain judges in the Volgograd area unreasonably make exercise of this individual civil right dependent on a prohibition of military service in the charter of the believer's religious organization. This is rather strange, since in 1996 the Constitutional Court already clarified the application of Article 59(3) of the Constitution. We are still concerned, as Aleksandr Minakov remains in custody at the military unit to this day. In effect, he is being held in custody without the sanction of the court or a prosecutor."

"Although Jehovah's Witnesses as a whole are known by their neutral stand in relation to the military, nevertheless in each individual case the Christian makes his own personal decision, on the basis of his conscience," explained Aleksey Nazarychev, representative of Jehovah's Witnesses. "The Bible is a the guide. History shows that the first Christians held to the same position." The professor C. J. Cadoux writes: "Up until the reign of Marcus Aurelius at least [161 - 180 C.E.], no Christian would become a soldier after his baptism" (The Early Church and the World).

The Krasnooktyabrskiy District Court's positive decision, is the fourth such ruling in favor of Jehovah's Witnesses in recent weeks. The other three took place in Cheboksary, Krasnodar and Gorno-Altaysk.

Administrative Center of Jehovah's Witnesses in Russia
197739 St. Petersburg, ul.Srednyaya 6
Telephone: (812)434-38-50, Fax: (812)437-09-70