Volgograd court denies conscript's right to alternative service

The Volgograd Regional Court has refused to satisfy the appeal complaint lodged by Danila Khamidulin, a conscript, who asked to replace his military service with an alternative civilian service (ACS) due to his religious beliefs. A lawyer from the military commissariat (registration and enlistment office) claims that Khamidulin had violated the deadline for filing an application.

Danila said that his parents formed his religious anti-militarist beliefs at the age of 14.  The Bible says that you cannot raise a sword against people, learn to fight, or take up arms. This is a sin ... If I take the oath, then ... I will betray my God, my faith," he has explained.

Sergey Semushin, an advocate, has noted that after his graduation, Khamidulin wrote an application to the draft commission with a request to replace his military service with the ACS, but due to ignorance of the laws, he failed to observe the deadline for submitting the application. Therefore, the draft commission refused to consider it.

Mr Semushin has noted that the draft commission refused to consider Khamidulin's request to restore the deadline for considering his application. Thus, Danila Khamidulin's right to convey his arguments to the commission members was infringed.

Sergey Ivaschenko, a lawyer, has explained that a citizen may indeed be denied the opportunity to replace the conscript military service with the ACS, "if he violated the deadline and (or) procedure for submitting an application."

The "Caucasian Knot" has also reported that Yegor Zorin, a conscript, sought the right to the ACS because of his religious beliefs, but the military commissar considered that the young man had not proven that he had these beliefs.