Soldier Muski refuses to take oath

“Young Front” activist Mikhail Muski was forcedly draft into the army. Though he applied for being assigned to alternative civilian service, referring to his religious convictions, but his application was declined due to the “absence of the mechanism of alternative civilian service”.

Mikhail Muski decided to appeal the ruling of the Niasvizh Draft Board according to which he was sent to army. The first hearing took place on 1 June in his absence, as he is kept in a military unit located in the Lepel district.

However, Judge Maryna Dunayeva ruled that he was to be summoned for the next sitting, which took place on 14 June. At 1.10 p.m. the judge turned Muski’s appeal down.

The activist is to take the military oath on 16 June, but says he will refuse to do it in protest against the forced draft to the army.


Bear in mind that Mikhail Muski and some other activists of the “Young Front” had been detained after the end of the “Chernobyl Way” opposition march on 26 April 2012. The following day the Savetski District Court in Minsk found him guilty under Article 17.1, “disorderly conduct”, and sentenced him to 15 days of arrest.

The activist was to have been released from jail on 11 May, but was subsequently sentenced to 5 days of arrest by the Maskouski District Court in Minsk. Human rights defender Anastasiya Loika stated that this new term was connected with his refusal to serve in the army and the demand to assign him to alternative civilian service instead of it.

On 14 May he was presented a summons to the military enlistment office and subsequently sent to army.