| After four hours of heated debate, the
State Duma approved the
government-backed bill on alternative
military service in a crucial second
reading Wednesday, tweaking it only
slightly despite a protest from liberal
lawmakers that it remained draconian.
About 300 amendments -- mostly
from the liberals -- have been
submitted to the Duma since the bill
was passed in the first reading in
April. However, the four pro-Kremlin
centrist factions that form the Duma's
majority blocked the passage of most
of them.
Lawmakers passed the bill with a vote of 274-3. Under the
bill, a man of conscript age
will be required to prove his pacifist views to a special
committee. He will be required
to serve 21 months if he has a higher education degree and
3 1/2 years without it.
That is a slight modification from the bill passed in the
first reading, which required
four years of service for university nongraduates and two
years for graduates.
Liberals had wanted, however, to cut the term to three
years for nongraduates and 18
months for graduates.
"The tendency of this debate is clearly to turn the bill
on alternative service into the
law on alternative slavery," Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of
the liberal Yabloko party, said
on TVS television during the debate.
Liberal Union of Right Forces deputy head Alexander
Barannikov declared the vote "a
victory of the military lobby."
Vladimir Lysenko of the centrist Russia's Regions party
said the government had
backed the amendments submitted by the liberals but the
military had "somehow
managed to convince the president that Russia does not
need a democratic law on
alternative service."
Deputies debated the need to prove one's pacifist beliefs,
but no changes were made
to the stipulation. A draftee will be required to prove
his beliefs in order to qualify for
alternative service, and the special draft commission will
have the right to reject his
application if it finds his arguments unconvincing.
Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the Duma's legislation
committee, said ahead of the
vote that the necessity to prove one's beliefs will open
the door to more corruption as
bureaucrats on the committee will jump at the opportunity
to take bribes, Interfax
reported.
Also hotly debated was a part of the bill defining where
draftees will be required to
carry out alternative service. Liberal deputies said
conscripts should serve where they
reside and be sent to other cities or regions only if
there is no work for them at home.
But the Duma decided that the military should determine
where to send conscripts.
Liberals and human rights advocates have warned that civil
servicemen who are forced
to work on military bases will be targets for abuse from
soldiers.
Deputies voted Wednesday to shave six months off
alternative service for those who
perform their terms in military quarters. The term for
compulsory military service is two
years.
The Duma must now pass the bill in a final reading that is
usually merely a formality.
The legislation then goes to the Federation Council and
President Vladimir Putin for
approval.
If implemented as expected in 2004, the bill will end a
discrepancy between the
Constitution and the practice of compulsory military
service. The 1993 Constitution
grants draftees the right to seek alternative service if
they cannot perform military
service for ethical or religious reasons.
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