Conscripts are asked to give a reprieve to the trial – Kommersant

The decision of the draft commission to send a citizen to the troops may be suspended for the duration of the trial. This follows from the bill submitted to the State Duma. Such a norm existed in Russian legislation for more than two decades, but in April 2023 it was abolished by the adopted package of amendments on the digitalization of military registration (the law “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation (on the issue of notifying citizens about their appearance at events related to conscription for military service)” was adopted in the second and third reading on April 11 and has already entered into force). The author of the current initiative, State Duma deputy Sergei Shargunov (KPRF), considers the existence of a mechanism to suspend the decision of the draft commission “a condition for ensuring the rights and legitimate interests of citizens.” If adopted, the bill will help to avoid the conscription of citizens who are not subject to it for health reasons, the lawyer believes.

Amendments to Part 7 of Art. 28 of the federal law “On military duty and military service” was submitted to the State Duma by Deputy Sergei Shargunov (KPRF). It is proposed to introduce a rule into the document that suspends the decision of the draft commission if it is appealed by a citizen until the “court decision” comes into force (or the higher draft commission of the “corresponding subject of the Russian Federation” makes its decision). Now in Part 7 of Art. 28 of this law refers only to the possibility of a citizen, in principle, to appeal against the decision of the commission without any legal consequences for the duration of the proceedings.

The author of the initiative actually proposes to return the norm that previously existed in the law. So, the text of Art. 28 not only guaranteed the suspension of the decision of the draft commission for the duration of the trial, but also determined that a citizen could appeal against it within three months from the date of the conclusion of the commission, and the corresponding complaint must be considered by the court within five days. However, in April 2023, a package of amendments was submitted to the State Duma “On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation (on the issue of notifying citizens about their appearance at events related to conscription for military service)”. Formally, it was about amendments to the law on military duty and military service, introduced back in 2018 and adopted in the second reading on February 22, 2022. Later, the amendments were returned to the second reading, and right on the eve of a new consideration on April 11 of this year, expanded and supplemented norms on digital registers of persons liable for military service and summonses sent to them, as well as on electronic summonses proper. The amendments were adopted immediately in the second and third readings and have already entered into force. Now citizens will be able to be summoned to the military registration and enlistment office through the public services portal, prohibiting them from leaving the country until they appear at the military registration and enlistment office, and evaders from appearing on the agenda after 20 days may be banned from driving a car, concluding real estate transactions, receiving bank loans and registering individual entrepreneurs. This package also abolished the norm, which Mr. Shargunov is talking about.

The explanatory note to the bill emphasizes the “special constitutional significance of military service,” requiring that citizens drafted into the troops be endowed with “increased legal guarantees.”

The mechanism to suspend the decision of the commissions existed in the legislation for more than 20 years (it was introduced in 1998), and its purpose was to guarantee the rule of law, ensure the “fundamental right to judicial protection” and strengthen “citizens’ confidence in the armed forces,” the document says. Sergei Shargunov refers to the decision of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation of February 20, 2006, which called the right to judicial protection “a fundamental inalienable right”, which “cannot be limited under any circumstances.” “The task of the Russian Federation as a rule of law state is to create effective measures to ensure the rule of law in the course of conscription for military service,” the explanatory note says and emphasizes that “illegal conscription measures” undermine “the combat capability of the armed forces, discredit military service in the eyes of society.”

Most often, the reason for appealing the decisions of the commissions is “mistakes in determining the category of fitness for military service” due to incorrect diagnoses, the explanatory note says. The author makes it clear that the abolition of the suspension of decisions mechanism is erroneous – in any case, it “was not laid down as the goal of the legislative changes that have taken place.” In support of the last thesis, an example is given of the norm on alternative civilian service, which nevertheless remained in the legislation.

Lawyer Marina Agaltsova says that the absence of a rule on suspending the decision of the draft board during the trial can lead to the sending of people with serious illnesses to the troops.

As an example, she cites her client, the counselor of one of the capital’s schools, Daniil Myatin, who was sent to the army as a conscript in December 2022, despite suffering from cancer. “Even if the court now recognizes his conscription as illegal, there is no mechanism in the law for the return of people taken to the unit,” argues Ms. Agaltsova.

“We observed a similar situation, when there was no such mechanism, during mobilization. This led to numerous violations of the rights of citizens,” Mr. Shargunov told Kommersant. As an example, he cites the mobilization of a 63-year-old resident of the city of Krasnoslobodsk, Volgograd region, with diabetes and cerebral ischemia, and the dispatch to the troops of a 40-year-old resident of Sakhalin with diabetes and plates in the spine. “There are many such stories. The task is to return the norm under which a person who is unfit for service will not go to it until the court makes a decision, ”added the deputy.

Alexander Voronov