On the 18th of February, Alexander Lukashenko ordered to draw up the law on alternative (civilian) military service. On the 18th of March, the Minsk district court withdrew the decision, according to which Ivan Mikhailov was to be jailed for three months for avoiding military service. Civic Belarus and other Belarusian and European organizations had previously protested against the denial of the right of Belarusian citizens to civilian service and against the prosecution of Ivan Mikhailov.
On the 18th of February Alexander Lukashenko ordered the Secretary of Security Council Leonid Maltsev to prepare a law on alternative military service, ONT TV reported. The statement was preceded by trials with Dmitry Smyk, Andrei Teniuta, Ivan Mikhailov and Yevgeny Yakovenko, who insisted on their right to civilian service, which is guaranteed by Article 57 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.
The trials raise a lot of attention in the media and the society. On the 26th of January, the President of the Constitutional Court Petr Miklashevich publicly stated that it is necessary to adopt the Law on Civil Service. A day later, the European organizations, including the Civic Belarus, appealed to President Lukashenko to repeal the prosecution of Ivan Mikhailov and to rapidly adopt a corresponding law. On the 2nd of February, Belarusian organizations have turned with a collective appeal to the Attorney General, the President of the Supreme and Constitutional Court and President of the Chamber of Representatives with the proposal to use all the authority to ensure citizens' constitutional right to alternative service and to ensure this by law. A hundred and twenty subjects (citizens and organizations) from nine countries have joined the appeal of Belarusian rights defenders.
The campaign "For alternative civilian service in Belarus" welcomed the announcement of Alexander Lukashenko and will now monitor that the process of drafting the Law is public, that it will ensure the possibility of cooperation with non-governmental organizations durign the proces of drafting the law and also that the text of the bill is prepared in accordance with international standards with regard to a CIS-model law on civil service:
а) the period of civil service may not significantly exceed the duration of military service,
b) other than religious beliefs must be respected, for example pacifism, allowing substitution of military service for the civilian service,
c) the right to opt for civil service must be ensured without any obligation to prove the belief,
d) citizens must be given a possibility to choose the area in which they will perform the civilian service.
On the 9th of March, the Minsk district court withdrew the decision that Ivan Michailov would be jailed for three months for avoiding military service. As we informed earlier, Ivan Mikhailov refused the commencement for military service because of his religious beliefs. For more information visit http://ags.by.
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