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MOSCOW - Russia's lower house of parliament launched debate
Wednesday on a law strengthening the constitutional provision
of alternative service with guarantees that would remove conscientious
objectors from legal limbo.
The legislators had three bills under consideration: a government-sponsored
draft providing for a four-year commitment to alternative civilian
service work, and two versions calling for terms of three and
two and a half years, respectively. The bills before the lower
house, or State Duma, are meant to stem widespread draft-dodging,
which along with Russians' declining health has made it difficult
for the military to fill the ranks of the nation's predominantly
conscript army. But critics of the government version in particular
say it would in effect punish conscientious objectors by forcing
them to serve twice as long as military conscripts.
"The government's bill should better be described as a bill
on punishment for draft evasion rather than a bill on alternative
service," Sergei Ivanenko of the liberal Yabloko faction
said Wednesday.
As in other countries, some of Russia's draft-dodgers are motivated
by conscientious objection to violence. But many more are frightened
of the vicious hazing and poor living conditions in the military,
as well as the prospect of being sent to Chechnya, where demoralized
Russian troops are bogged down in a guerrilla war with highly
motivated rebels.
Over the past decade, some Russian courts have ruled in favor
of conscientious objectors. But in the absence of a civilian service
system, those who win such cases have simply not served at all.
In other cases, local prosecutors have brought criminal charges
against conscientious objectors.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said Wednesday that passage of
a law "will make it easier for military enlistment offices
to deal with those who opt for alternative service, and will also
discourage individual politicians from launching thoughtless experiments
on people," the Interfax-Military News Agency reported.
He was apparently referring to liberal legislator Boris Nemtsov's
call for conscripts to serve only six months in the army in order
to cut down on hazing of junior servicemen by longer-serving soldiers.
The current term for conscripts is two years.
See also:
The
Russian Army
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