In Volgograd Region, believer denied his right to alternative service

The Volgograd Regional Court denied Anton Kuznetsov, a member of a pacifist religious community, the right to alternative civilian service. The young man, who was forcibly sent to a military unit, has been refusing to take up arms and take an oath for more than six months.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that due to his religious beliefs, Anton Kuznetsov tried to prove to a military registration and enlistment office that he had the right to alternative civilian service, but he was forcibly sent to a military unit. Anton Kuznetsov also appealed against his conscription before the medical examination, but on July 26, the Volgograd Regional Court recognized his conscription as legal.

“I can’t take up arms, because the Bible contains a principle according to which true Christians should not fight, but should be peace-loving,” Anton Kuznetsov explained in court. According to the young man, the military registration and enlistment office requested him to present a document confirming that he is a believer.

Lawyer Sergey Semushin noted that the plaintiff quoted by heart fragments from the Holy Scriptures proving his pacifist convictions and indicated which biblical commandments he was guided by and how he followed them.

According to Sergey Krivenko, the director of the “Citizen. Army. Law”* human rights group, a former member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, the Constitution of the Russian Federation does not indicate beliefs that allow a person to ask for the replacement of military service with an alternative one.

*Included by the Russian Ministry of Justice (MoJ) into the register of foreign agents.