Kozlovsky Demobilized

The following is an exclusive translation of a story from News.ru about Oleg Kozlovsky, an organizer of the youth movement Oborona (featured many times on this blog), who was unlawfully drafted into the army recently allegedly as punishment for his political activities. “The Other Russia” activist Oleg Kozlovsky, unlawfully drafted into the army, demobilized Coordinator of the movement “Oborona”, member of the executive committee of the coalition “The Other Russia” Oleg Kozlovsky has been demobilized from the ranks of the Armed Forces and is returning home, reports Interfax”. The press service of the organization “Oborona” disseminated a statement in which is asserted that it has the necessary documents, proving the illegality of the drafting of Kozlovsky into the army and “the military commissar of the Izmailovsky military commissariat will not be able to evade responsibility and will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.” In the report is noted that on 5 March, Kozlovsky will submit documents confirming his transfer into the reserves to the Izmailovsky military commissariat and there he will tell journalists about [his] “army adventures”.

In December, Oleg Kozlovsky was forcibly delivered by a precinct police officer to the military commissariat, and from there – for the undergoing of service in the capacity of a private to a military unit of a hard-to-access Rayon of Ryazan Oblast.From the very beginning, Kozlovsky’s close ones asserted that he had earlier undergone [reserve officer] training at the military department of MGU [Moscow State University], after which an officer’s calling was supposed to have been conferred on him. In addition to this, said relatives, the leader of “Oborona” has serious illnesses, making him unsuitable for military service. They insisted that Kozlovsky, drafted into the army without going through a full-fledged medical commission, urgently must be placed in a military hospital for examination.After the military procuracy started to deal with the case of the drafting of Kozlovsky, he submitted a request for a medical examination, and then was transferred to the military hospital of Ryazan. By decision of the military-medical commission (VVK) of the Ryazan military hospital, coordinator of the movement “Oborona” Kozlovsky was found to be restrictedly fit for military service under category “V”.In the words of Kozlovsky’s mother Marina, the military concealed what conclusions the military-medical commission had come to from relatives for a long time. It became possible to obtain the results only thanks to an inquiry from a deputy to the Moscow City Duma, Sergey Mitrokhin of “Yabloko”. Earlier, leaders of “Yabloko”, SPS, human rights organizations spoke out in defense of Oleg Kozlovsky. Joining in the affair was State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomarev, the Moscow and Ryazan Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers.Earlier, Kozlovsky himself declared that they wanted to muster him out after the “Dissenters’ March” of 3 March, so as not to give him the opportunity to participate in actions of protest.