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Activists display banners in Minsk to protest recruitment of opposition youths into army

Members of the Maladaya Belarus opposition youth group displayed a few banners in downtown Minsk on Monday to protest the “forcible” recruitment of opposition activists into the army.

The banners, which read, “Shame on political recruiting!,” were displayed on the occasion of the Fatherland Defenders’ Day and the 91st anniversary of the Belarusian Armed Forces.

In an interview with BelaPAN, Maladaya Belarus leader Artur Finkevich said that the group protested Belarus’ military draft system. “We advocate a professional army in which people will want, not be compelled to serve. We advocate an army where service will be honorary, not forcible,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the present-day army has become a tool used exclusively as a repressive machine against young activists of the pro-democratic movement. We oppose political recruiting and an army that can only bar pro-democratic activists from public life,” Mr. Finkevich said.

Police picked up Syarhey Klyuyew, a Maladaya Belarus activist, while he was putting up one of the banners. He was released without charges later in the day.

Three prominent young opposition activists, Franak Vyachorka, Ivan Shyla and Zmitser Fedaruk, were apprehended by police and sent to military units for 18-month compulsory service within two days in late January. Messrs. Vyachorka and Shyla had previously been pronounced unfit for military service on medical grounds, and Mr. Fedaruk insisted that he was eligible for deferment as a full-time student of a theological school.