Yugoslavia: Information on the penalties imposed on those who fail to respond to military call-up notice on the grounds that they are Seventh Day Adventists, and on whether alternative service would be available to them

In a telephone interview on 13 March 1995, an attorney-at-law who specializes in intellectual property and criminal law in Belgrade provided the following information. There are two kinds of proceedings, administrative and criminal, that are employed against those who do not respond to military summonses. Administrative proceedings may result in fines or a maximum imprisonment of 60 days; criminal proceedings may result in a maximum of one year imprisonment, for Article 214 of the Yugoslav Code states that refusal to respond to a military summons is an offense. If a person goes into hiding to evade military service, the penalty is from three months to five years' imprisonment; if the person leaves the country or remains outside the country with the intent to avoid military service, the penalty is from one to five years imprisonment.

The attorney-at-law stated that the penalties are legally prescribed in the 1993 Law on Army of Yugoslavia. This law also states that people who avoid military service based on religious or other reasons are required to serve two years in military institutions and are not required to bear or carry arms. The attorney-at-law listed the examples of work in military factories and enterprises, and stated that this work is a form of alternative service. The normal period of military service is one year. The attorney-at-law stated that he has defended 15 people, none of whom were religious objectors, who were accused of desertion or refusal to respond to a military summons. Six of those 15 were acquitted, nine were sentenced, of whom eight received suspended sentences and one was imprisoned for two months. The attorney-at-law added that the statistics of his legal colleagues on this issue are similar to his own. The attorney-at-law stated that religious objectors including the Seventh Day Adventists would probably receive similar punishments. The supreme military court has issued sentencing guidelines in 1993 and 1994 proclaiming that people who refuse military service should not normally be imprisoned, and that the length of imprisonment is not to exceed 18 months. These guidelines apply only to recruits, and not to professional soldiers, who would receive more severe penalties. Only the military courts may prosecute those who refuse to perform military service.

The attorney-at-law stated that the law pertaining to objection to military service based on religious or other reasons is fundamentally flawed by the restriction that it applies only to people during the calendar year of their seventeenth birthday. People who after this time period attempt to claim objection to military service based on religious or other reasons have been refused.

For additional information on the penalties imposed on those who fail to respond to military call-up notices, please consult the attachment.

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Reference

Mikijelj and Jankovic Law Firm, Belgrade. 13 March 1995. Telephone interview with attorney-at-law.

Attachment

Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Belgrade. 13 March 1995. Facsimile sent to the DIRB.