Press Release, 15.05.2020

On May 15, the International Day of Conscientious Objectors to Military Service, Ruslan Zinatullin, Chairman of the regional branch of the Yabloko party in Tatarstan, held a series of one-person pickets (that do not require any permissions from the authorities) against the conscription slavery in Russia and against human rights violations in the Russian army. The picketing was held by the military commissariat in the Volga and Vakhitovsky districts of Kazan.

“I went to this action, because today conscripts are subjected to degrading treatment throughout Russia.

From all over our country, we hear horrible stories of hazing, which sometimes lead to real tragedies, as was the case in Ramil Shamsutdinov, who was later recognised as a victim in the case of hazing.

In another case of Ruslan Shaveddinov, we see that the Russian authorities did use compulsory military service as a punitive measure, perfectly understanding the conditions in which one has to serve as a conscript. It turns out that the State does not even try to hide, but demonstrates the following: the army is this a kind of repression.

I would also like to note that our party would like to include a voluntary draft in the army and a mandatory investigation into reports of torture into the Constitution. We also propose banning the activities of private military organisations in Russia,” Ruslan Zinatullin said.

It should be noted that the international day of conscientious objectors to military service is marked annually on May 15 due to the fact that on May 15, 1997, the Bundestag, the Federal Parliament of Germany, issued a resolution on the rehabilitation of those whom Nazi Germany military justice persecuted for conscientious objection and desertion.