Sacred duty

Military service is an honorable duty of every citizen of the Republic of Belarus, established by Article 57 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus. Only a true man can serve the Motherland, defend his fatherland, his land, his family. Family, school, and institute teach us literacy and sciences, but perseverance, overcoming difficulties, and oneself – only military service can do that.

Unfortunately, one of the residents of Vitebsk did not realize these circumstances, considered it a waste of time, and while his peers were sent to military units in the autumn of 2016, citizen K., while staying in the dormitory of OJSC "VZEP", in order to evade conscription for military service, refused to accept a summons to appear at the military commissariat for conscription events to undergo medical examination. Until the end of the conscription period from August to November 2016, K. without valid reasons, intentionally, in order to evade conscription for military service, did not appear at the military commissariat, which prevented the conscription commission from making a decision on the citizen's fulfillment of military duty, thereby evading conscription for military service.

The aforementioned circumstance served as the basis for initiating a criminal case against citizen K. under Part 1 of Article 435 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus (evasion of conscription for military service), and for conducting a preliminary investigation in his regard.

During the investigation, as well as in court, citizen K. pleaded guilty to not wanting to serve in the military and repented of his actions.

When issuing the guilty verdict, the court took into account the mitigating circumstances and imposed a sentence of 1 year and 6 months of restriction of liberty without being sent to an open-type correctional institution.

Now, citizen K. will seriously think about fulfilling his civic duties…

Unfortunately, many conscripts believe that it is necessary to "dodge" the army, in that

for the purpose of not losing a potential job, to arrange one's life.

However, it should be noted that a criminal record for such a frivolous decision can create serious obstacles (if not completely block) the path to achieving one's aspirations. After all, if a person has betrayed their Motherland, having once refused to serve it, why would they not be able to betray it a second time, now their employer.

Even the ancient Greeks asserted – TAMINTOGA, QUAMINSAGO, which means a talented person can prove themselves in different fields, i.e., both in a toga and in a military cloak.

The wisdom of this statement has been confirmed by centuries of history, and therefore, being called up for military service, one should not consider this time wasted…

Assistant to the Vitebsk Transport Prosecutor
Junior Counselor of Justice V.O. Shevernovskaya