Currently, among young people over the age of majority, draft evasion for military service is widespread. Such violations are constantly detected, despite the general availability of information on the sanctions imposed for this. Responsibility for evading the army can lead to the imposition of a criminal punishment, including imprisonment.
Legal Implications for Dodgers
The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for certain penalties for evading military service. This is enshrined in the thirty-first article of the Federal Law No. 53 of March 1998, which regulates the duties and service of draftees in administrative and criminal laws.
Thus, non-receipt of the agenda by conscripts is in itself an offense. The fourth article defines the types of actions that are evasion from military service. They mainly include the non-appearance of persons at military events directly related to the draft, with proper notification and the absence of a valid reason for the non-appearance.
If the military registration and enlistment office has information about the place of residence, place of study or work of the conscript, as well as about family members, the inability to present a summons leads to the involvement of police officers in the search. There are no sanctions for the draftee in this case.
If a citizen of draft age intentionally hides information about his whereabouts, place of employment or training, or otherwise fails to receive a summons, he faces a penalty for evading military service of an administrative or criminal type.
Types of Crimes
Before considering what threatens to evade the army, it is necessary to establish the types of actions that fall into this category.
The April Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court in the Russian Federation in 28008 indicated that evading the subpoena would be considered a crime if it was proved that its purpose was to deliberately evade military service in the army.
Such actions can be confirmed by repeated failure to appear if there are no good reasons for this to the commissariat for military events or during the draft period for several periods in a row. If there is a justifiable reason, punishment for evading military service will be imposed in case of failure to appear after the expiration of such reasons.
If a citizen called up for service moved, but did not register in a timely manner at the commissariat for a new place of residence, this also qualifies as a draft evasion, for which there is a corresponding penalty. This group also includes deregistration due to a fictitious move. Sanctions in this case apply if a citizen left his main place of residence for more than three months.
In this case, citizens who cannot register due to lack of registration at the place of residence for reasons beyond their control are subject to exemption from liability.
Some conscripts, who do not know what will be the evasion of the army, are trying to achieve replacement of service in the armed forces with an alternative type, without having any reason for it. In this case, the time spent by the citizen to challenge the refusal to provide the opportunity to perform alternative service is counted as a period of evading the service. As a result, citizens can be prosecuted.
Limits of criminal liability
The legislation provides for the following types of sanctions against draft evaders under the first part of Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation :
- a fine, the maximum amount of which is two hundred thousand in rubles, or calculated within the one and a half year income of the convicted person;
- forced labor for two years;
- arrest, the term of which is a maximum of six months;
- two-year imprisonment of a convicted person.
In the second part of this article, the punishment for evading alternative military service includes the same sanctions as in the first part. In addition, this type of sanction is added as compulsory labor activity lasting up to twenty days.
Administrative responsibility
Only the judicial authority has the right to determine what punishment for evading military service threatens seventeen-year-old citizens. According to legislative norms, young people who have reached the age of seventeen are required to register with the military registration and enlistment office at the place of residence.
If a military person has changed life circumstances (for example, a change of residence, birth of children, etc.), he is obliged to inform the military commissariat about this.
According to the norms of administrative law, the punishment for evading military service under Article 21.5 of the Code is imposed if the following persons do not appear in the military enlistment office:
- Registered and received a summons.
- Subject to registration or deregistration in a timely manner.
- Applicable if citizens are absent from the place of residence for more than three months or if they went abroad for more than six months without informing the military enlistment office.
The administrative code defines what punishment for evasion may be. For such offenses, citizens can be brought to pay a fine in the amount of one hundred to five hundred rubles.
If a citizen of draft age refuses to receive a summons to undergo a medical examination or does not appear on him, this action is qualified under Article 21.6 and shall be punished with a corresponding fine.
Criminal liability
Information on how to punish for evading mobilization under criminal law for completing military or civilian alternative service under article 328 is publicly available, as well as a list of actions relating to evasion under article thirty-one of the relevant law.
If the military registration and enlistment office received information that a twenty-year-old citizen had previously committed acts qualifying as evasion, a criminal case may be instituted against this person even taking into account the long-term period of at most two years.
In this case, the court establishes the circumstances of the case and it turns out whether the draftee had taken real actions to evade service. Responsibility arises if these circumstances are confirmed.
This also includes actions to evade the passage of a medical commission, committed more than once. If such circumstances are established once, sanctions will be imposed only under administrative law.
Citizens who attempted to avoid service by imitating a disease, injuring themselves or providing false documents are also recognized as deviators .
The types of criminal penalties for evading military service include the following sanctions:
- payment of a fine, the maximum amount of which is two hundred thousand in rubles;
- forced labor for up to two years;
- arrest with a maximum period of six months;
- imprisonment of a draft evader up to a maximum of two years.
It is impossible to say exactly how people are judged and punished for evading the army, since each judge determines this independently, depending on the established circumstances.
Due to the fact that army service is a constitutional obligation for every man, sanctions include strict types of responsibility.
Types of Evasion Responsibility
Since evasion of military service in Russia is quite common recently, sanctions include several types of liability.
Penalties are the most common liability measure. Also, this measure is the most effective. On the one hand, a fine is not a very serious punishment, on the other hand, its payment motivates violators to correct their own behavior.
Due to the fact that the amount of the fine can reach two hundred thousand rubles or be calculated within the limits of one and a half month’s income of the convicted person, this punishment greatly affects the financial condition of the convicted person. In addition, such a sanction in the maximum amount is most often applied, and this strongly motivates draft dodgers.
Social work is the main alternative to paying a fine. Each judge independently determines the duration of community service, but no more than twenty-four months. Thus, the maximum sentence is twelve months longer than the term of service.
Arrest as another measure of responsibility, the least frequently applied to draft evaders. The maximum duration of this sanction is six months. Despite this, such punishment leads to a number of consequences, in addition to a six-month sentence. Such consequences include constant monitoring by law enforcement agencies, the obligation to serve, despite the served sentence, and problems with employment due to a criminal record until the receipt of a military ticket.
Imprisonment is the most serious form of sanction. The duration of the conclusion is no more than two years. Since this punishment is the most severe, its application is minimized.
Alternative modes of service
Alternative types of service are used in cases when a liable citizen cannot take the main type of service due to health problems. At the same time, evasion of alternative service is punished as strictly as from the main one.
Penalties are imposed within eighty thousand rubles or based on the semi-annual income of the convicted person. For evading the army, an alternative type of responsibility is compulsory labor activity lasting up to four hundred and eighty hours.
Despite the fact that the period of responsibility for evading the alternative type of service is somewhat shorter than for the main military service, the period of arrest (when applying this type of sanction) is also six months.
Evasion of appearance at military training camps
All male citizens who have fulfilled their constitutional obligation in the form of military service (persons who have served and were transferred to the reserve) are required to undergo military periodic training. Failure to attend these events also threatens to be held accountable. In this case, the sanctions are only administrative in nature.
Responsibility for evading mobilization is expressed in the form of a fine within five hundred rubles. Most citizens prefer not to fulfill their mobilization obligation and, having paid a fine, not to break away from their main labor activity.
Officially employed citizens failing to appear at mobilization events threaten with removal from work. This is due to the fact that, according to the law, the employer who provided the employee with time (with salary) to undergo military training has the right not to allow the employee until the mobilization obligation is fulfilled.
The legislation also provided for the right of the employer to impose a fine on an evader within sixty thousand rubles.
Giving a bribe for exemption from service
Some deviators use the easiest, in their opinion, way of avoiding military service - giving a bribe to a responsible official. The amount of bribe in most cases is equal to the maximum size of the penalty for evasion - two hundred thousand rubles. Many believe that paying a fine will free them from the need to repay a debt to their homeland.
Contrary to this view, bribery of a responsible person in the military enlistment office can lead to serious problems, including criminal liability. Establishing the fact of giving a bribe or buying a military ticket will negatively affect both sides.
Along with the assignment of punishment for evasion, the evader will be forced to perform the service. In addition, he will be prosecuted for giving a bribe. The recipient of the bribe, in turn, will be dismissed from service and also held accountable.
In this regard, bribery relations between these entities will lead to the application of severe sanctions against both persons, which is incomparable with the passage of the annual army service.
Good reasons to quit
Responsibility for failure to perform military service can be avoided if there are valid reasons for this. These include:
- Full-time study at a higher educational institution. In this case, in order to avoid problems, it is necessary to timely submit to the draft board a document confirming the fact of training. It’s not worth waiting until the draft board begins to search and call on the agenda.
- The presence of a pregnant wife (period from twenty-sixth week or more), the presence of children under three years of age, as well as the education of a disabled child, care for a sick family member. It should be borne in mind that the presence of a pregnant wife is a good reason only if the relationship is officially registered.
- Health status. This fact is established in the process of passing the medical draft board. Depending on the results of the commission, the conscript will be assigned a certain category of suitability. If a citizen is found to be completely unfit, he will be permanently exempted from service.
- Alternative sexual orientation. In this case, the problem is to prove this fact.
- The person belongs to the ranks of scientists of civil servants or inventors.
Despite the existence of severe sanctions, draft dodgers periodically appear among young people. But the performance of the service during the year not only relieves of administrative and criminal nature, but also makes it possible to find work in certain places.