Stefanovich declared “draft dodger”

Valyantsin Stefanovich cannot leave Belarus due to the “draft evasion”.

Valyantsin Stefanovich, a member of the Belarusian Association of Journalists (BAJ) and one of the leaders of Viasna human rights centre, was banned from travelling abroad by the Ministry of Defence in connection with “draft evasion”, Radio Svaboda reports.

Stefanovich received an appropriate document from the citizenship and migration office.

The human rights activists went to the military enlistment office of the Partyzanski district for explanations, but the office staff was surprised.

“How can I be drafted if I was born in 1972 and the service age expired 12 years ago? I served two years in the army. It's nonsense. Officers of the district enlistment office applied to the city enlistment office for explanations. They checked their database and found out no summonses were sent to me. It's unclear who wanted to call me up,” Valyantsin Stefanovich said.