Today, on January 29, 2010, a court hearing of the case on Ivan Mikhailau - a parishioner of Messianic Jews community “New Testament” and the oldest son in a family with many children.

Ivan Mikhailau refuses military service upon his religious beliefs and demands assignment of civil (alternative) service to him, which goes along with provisions of Art. 57 of the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus.

Mikhailau’s claim was not heard either by the Ministry of Defense, Administration of the President or numerous other instances that Mikhailau’s family appealed to. A criminal case was brought up against Ivan for “evading draft to the military service” upon the provisions of the Belarusian Criminal Code’s Art. 435.1. Maximum punishment presupposed by this article is up to 2 years of imprisonment.

Ivan Mikhailau was taken to court under convoy from Zhodzina pre-trial prison where he has been placed since the moment of his arrest on December 20, 2009.

Admission into the room of the court hearing was allowed only for relatives of Mikhailau and representatives of mass-media. Mikhail Pashkevich – coordinator of the public campaign “For Alternative Civilian Service in Belarus” – has managed to conduct a human rights monitoring from the court room.

The case is considered by Judge Minich A.N., state prosecution is represented by prosecutor Cherepovich, Mikhailau’s defense is provided by lawyer Svetlana Gorbatok.

Prosecution demads that Ivan Mikhailau be considered guilty of criminal offence for evading the draft and claims criminal charges.

Defense insists on the verdict of non-guilty for Mikhailau, demands cessation of criminal prosecution and pleads for securing the constitutional right to alternative civilian service to her client.

Mikhailau does not plead guilty, he openly proclaims his wish to implement alternative civilian service and does not accept military service by any means.

At 13.05 a break in the proceedings was announced. Hearing of arguments is scheduled for Monday, 01.02.2010.

Consideration of the criminal case on Ivan Mikhailau will resume at 10.00 AM on February 1, 2010 in Minsk Regional Court (Lahoyski trakt, 5).

Monitoring group of the
Public Campaign “For alternative civilian service in Belarus”
www.ags.by