On 29 January 2010 the 21-year-old Ivan Mikhailov is due to go on trial on charges of refusing compulsory military service. He was arrested on 15 December 2009 after his demands to do alternative civilian service were rejected.

 

Mikhailov is a member of New Testament, a Minsk-based Messianic Jewish congregation. Both Mikhailov and his family have repeatedly told the Minsk District call-up commission that he is unable to do military service because of his religious beliefs. Mikhailov asked instead to be assigned to alternative civilian service, in line with Article 57 of Belarus' Constitution.

 

No family members have been allowed to visit Mikhailov at an investigation prison in Zhodino (Minsk Region) since his arrest at work on 15 December. His lawyer, Svetlana Gorbatok, was permitted to attend his interrogation and hold an individual meeting with him on 14 January. Under Article 435, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, Mikhailov faces a fine or up to two years' imprisonment if found guilty of refusing compulsory military service.

 

The numbers of prosecutions of conscientious objectors in Belarus are increasing. A Jehovah's Witness from Gomel, Dmitry Smyk, became the first such case in nine years in November 2009. He was given a large fine (875 Euro) and banned from leaving Belarus, banned from travelling within the country without notifying the authorities and required to maintain "good conduct". Smyk appealed against the verdict, but on 9 December a three-judge panel at Gomel Regional Court upheld his conviction. Later in December he lodged a supervisory appeal to the Chair of the Regional Court, Lyudmila Mikhalkova, whose decision is expected by 23 January. Although the verdict against him is now in force, Smyk is refusing to pay the fine and will take his case to the Supreme Court if the decision of Regional Court’s Chair is negative.

 

There are two other current cases of young men facing punishment for refusing military service on grounds of conscience: Andrei Tenyuta and opposition Christian Democrat Yevgeny Yakovenko. According to Dmitry Smyk, several more Jehovah's Witnesses may similarly be prosecuted.

 

A Law on Alternative Service was initially included in the 2010 Legislative Programme but was removed at the last minute. The failure to introduce alternative service comes a decade after a May 2000 Constitutional Court ruling declaring its introduction "urgent". A previous attempt to adopt an Alternative Service Law was rejected by Parliament in 2004. Article 36 of the Law on Military Obligation and Military Service also requires call-up commissions to offer alternative service, but there is no legal mechanism for providing it.

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