European Belarus activist drafted into army unlawfully

Aleh Ladutska, an activist of the civil campaign European Belarus, is drafted into the army in spite of the decision of the medical board.

Aleh Ladutska got a phone call from the military enlistment office at 6:40 a.m. (!) and was ordered to come to the office at 8 a.m.

“I was surprised to receive the call so early in the morning, but I didn’t suspect anything. I was found unfit for military service by the medical board, as I am a stammerer. I was told I would be called to the military enlistment office in January to receive a military ID. I came to the office and was ordered the chief of the Leninski district military office. A colonel said the diagnosis was wrong, was fit even for ‘space flights,’” Aleh Ladutska said.

Ladutska was handed in a summons for next day. According to him, the summons pointed “conversation with the military office chief” as a reason for calling.

“Under the law, I have a three-year military service deferment. All other actions, namely telephone calls at six in the morning, conversations with colonels and their ‘diagnoses’ are unlawful. I regard these actions as outrage and provocation, connected with my public activity. Such actions are unlawful. I will complaint at them to a prosecutor’s office and international institutions,” the democratic activist says.

Unlawful drafting into the army has become a rather wide-spread means of fighting against the democratic opposition in Belarus. A number of youth activists – Zmitser Zhaleznichenka, Franak Vyachorka, Ales Kalita, Zmitser Khvedaruk, Ivan Shyla and others – have been called for military service in spite of student deferments, family status, or problems with health.