Dmitrii Neverovski, a 26-year old mathematician, has since 1997 tried to have his obligatory military service replaced by alternative civil service. The case was brought to court. Accused of violating the Constitution, which, in fact, guarantees the right to alternative civil service, he was sentenced to two years' imprisonment. In his final court speech Dmitrii said he refused to serve in the Russian army because to his mind the Chechnya war, in which the Russian army was still involved, was a crime. The European Parliament's Chechnya Resolution dated January 20,2000 appealed for a further review of the case of Dmitrii Neverovski, who rejected to serve in the army because of his principles determined by his conscience. Many Russian and international non-governmental organizations have requested the Amnesty International to grant him the "prisoner of conscience" status.
Prior to the trial Dmitrii Neverovski was kept in the Kaluga prison. According to the Russian law, he was entitled to vote in the coming parliamentary election. In fact, he was going to exercise his constitutional right to participate in the election.
However, the last Russian parliamentary election (as well as the election held in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other former USSR republics) was marked by numerous cases of election law infringement, which provides a reasonable ground to believe that the final official results were not authentic. Dmitrii Neverovski's failure to vote in the election was just an unnecessary confirmation of the fact.
Going into details, Dima Neverovski expressed his wish to vote and submitted the required application to the prison office on December 19, 1999. His mother provided the prison office with a certificate of his eligibility to vote, which she got at the polling station serving the area where he had been registered for voting.
Unfortunately, on December 19, that is, on the day of the election, Dmitrii was denied an opportunity to vote. What a whim to be catered to! A prisoner wants to vote? Neverovski considered this a violation of his right to vote and filed an appeal with the district electoral commission.
The prison officials quickly responded to such impertinence. Neverovski was shown the register of those eligible to vote at his local polling station. His name was listed there along with other names, and there was a signature next to it. "What's your problem? You have voted!"
Dmitrii objected - it was not his signature, and he never got any ballot paper. Anyway, it is rather hard to discuss your constitutional right to vote with uniformed people armed with rubber truncheons.
Dmitrii filed a complaint with the regional electoral commission reporting on the violation of his rights. The letter, apparently, has never left the prison building. At that point his mother appealed to the regional electoral commission and received the following reply:
"… The complaint against the violation of election law during the parliamentary election filed by your son Neverovski D.A. has been reviewed by a worker of the 412 polling station and by prison officers. It has been determined that in your complaint you misrepresented facts and reported on events that never took place. Your son Neverovski D.A. born in 1973, presently detained, was listed in the voters register under number 1208, page 15, and voted in the federal election, which was certified by his signature confirming the receipt of a ballot slip. The ballot slip was handed to him in the presence of Gusev V.Y., a poll worker, and Sazonov N.N. and Malyuzhin I.V., prison officers. Chariman of electoral commission, V.V.Zhidkih."
This is how they put it, simply and unpretentiously. But Dmitrii
Neverovski kept repeating that his right to vote had been violated and
the election results - falsified. In such circumstances, the prison officers
"took the following steps": on January 18, 2000 Neverovski was put in a
solitary confinement cell of the 37/01 Kaluga prison. The sentence was
15 days. Not because of the election of course! The reason was that when
he was walking out of his cell, he was too slow to cross his hands behind
his back the way every prisoner is supposed to do. The weather is intensely
cold now in Russia. And the solitary confinement cell in the Kaluga prison
in not heated. But people don't grumble - they have elected their parliament…