The Leningrad Regional Court sided with Pavel Mushumansky, a mobilized resident of Gatchina, who asked to be transferred to the Alternative Civil Service (AGS).
How informed lawyer and head of the military ombudsman project Maxim Grebenyuk, the court rejected the project commission’s appeal against the decision of the trial court, which also sided with Mushumansky.
Pavel Mushumansky in 2019, for religious reasons, performed alternative civilian service instead of military service, informed “Fontanka”. In September 2022, when Mushumansky was called up for mobilization, he asked to be transferred to the ACS, but instead he was sent to a military unit in the Leningrad region.
The mobilized Russian challenged in court the decision to call up for military service, after which his appeal was suspended for the duration of the trial. On November 30, 2022, the Gatchina court of the Leningrad region granted Mushumansky’s request and declared conscription illegal.
The head of the “Military Ombudsman” project Maxim Grebenyuk noted that “the precedent is recognized.” Fontanka points out that this is the first case in Russia where a person mobilized through the court was able to perform alternative civilian service.
In September 2022, after the announced mobilization in Russia, the Russian authorities announced that no alternative service was planned during the mobilization. At the same time, the Constitution of the Russian Federation stipulates that Russian citizens have the right to perform alternative civil service instead of military service.