In May of the current year, a resident of Dzyarzhynsk was subject to a month of arrest for evading military service.

That story started in November, 2022, when a 19-year-old resident of Dzyarzhynsk began evading the attempts of the army to send him to a military unit. Having received against personal signature a draft notice within the framework of implementation of the conscription, the young man never showed up at the military conscription and enlistment office. At the same time, the authorities warned him many times about criminal liability for evading conscription to the military service.

The Investigation Committee took the case. During interrogations, the young man said that in reality he had not been evading conscription, but had not arrived to the military commissariat because his health had deteriorated severely at that time. Nevertheless, investigators did not believe him: judicial documents said that no contraindications to military service for health reasons had been detected during the criminal investigation.

The important thing is, however, that the investigation in Dzyarzhynsk was conducted extremely fast and “without unnecessary formalities” like different expert opinions and forensic examinations. In the result, the young man was presented the final charges under Part 1 Art. 435 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (evasion from activities on draft to the military service). The criminal case was submitted to prosecutor with a motion to send it to court. Thus, in May of this year, the court sentenced the unfulfilled soldier to one month of arrest under Part 1 Art. 435 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus.

Reference of Our House:

Article 435 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (evasion from activities on draft to the military service):

1.Evasion from activities on draft to the military service is punishable by community service, or a fine, or an arrest, or restraint of liberty for the term of up to two years, or by imprisonment for the same term.

2.Evasion from activities on draft to the military service, committed with intentional infliction of any bodily self-harm, or by imitation of a disease, or by falsification of documents or other deceit, is punishable by restraint of liberty for the term of up to five years, or by imprisonment for the same term.

Our House

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