Military exercise for refusal to be fingerprinted

• 18.12.2009, 11:43

The first deputy interior minister said about prospects for those who would refuse to give fingerprints.

As Aleh Pyakarski, the first deputy interior minister of Belarus, said it was not planned to impose responsibility for refusal to be fingerprinted, Interfax reports.

“At the moment, citizens of our country do not feel any pressure or influence to pass fingerprinting registration. A question of brining to responsibility may be considered later,” Pyakarski said.

He noted there is administrative responsibility for failure to appear in a military enlistment office and responsibility for refusal to fulfil demands of the official on duty.

“We do not plan to apply these measures so far,” the first deputy minister said and added: “We’d like to see how citizens will help us voluntary.” He said about 1.3mn of Belarusians have been fingerprinted, 22,000 refused to pass this procedure.

Aleh Pyakarski stressed the person refusing to pass fingerprinting procedure would be invited to a military enlistment office several times, and “it’s not excluded that the office may take a decision to enrol the person to a military exercise”.

We remind that the “council of the republic” approved a draft law on amendments to the law on state fingerprinting registration. The amendments to the law on state fingerprinting registration provide for expanding a number of people to be fingerprinted at the cost of persons liable for military service. Under the new law, all male persons liable for military service must aged 18¬–55 must be fingerprinted.

As charter97.org has already informed, mass unlawful fingerprinting campaign has been started in Belarus after a bomb blast in Minsk on July 4, 2008. Belarusians are fingerprinted when they are invited to military enlistment offices and militia departments. The Ministry of internal Affairs began to fingerprint the minor in technical schools.