Right off The Street: Young Man's Legal Battle with Shymkent Military Registration and Enlistment Office Explained

In spring 2024, an 18-year-old Turkestan region resident went to Shymkent to pick up his grandmother. He had no idea that he would soon be taken by military registration and enlistment office employees. 

A day later, he would be bedridden for several months. 

An Orda journalist has looked into the situation. 

On October 8, the head of the Department of Organizational and Mobilization Work of the General Staff of the Armed Forces, Farkhat Aidarbekov, spoke about conscripts being snatched up right off the streets:

During the autumn conscription, we tried not to use such methods because we found another, more lawful way. Now, we don't take young people straight from the street to the army. 

What happened to Bekhruz Ravshanbekov speaks to the contrary. 

On April 26, 2024, Bekhruz Ravshanbekov, who was 18 then, traveled from his native village of Tagayna, in the Tolebi district of the Turkestan region, to Shymkent. 

There, he planned to pick up his grandmother.

Near the bus station, he encountered Bakhyt Bekbayev, an inspector of the mobilization training center and de facto an employee of the military registration and enlistment office. 

All those involved have radically different versions of the events that were to unfold. 

The military registration and enlistment office claims Bekbayev introduced himself and asked Ravshanbekov to state his birth year. When he said 2007, he did not believe him and took him to another officer, Lieutenant Colonel Ruslan Mukashev.

The officer ran Bekhruz Ravshanbekov's info through a database and discovered he was 18. 

According to the military registration and enlistment office, the young man got into their car and drove to the office. Allegedly, he attempted to talk his way out but voluntarily underwent a medical examination at the office.

When they were going to shave his head, he tried to dissuade the military registration and enlistment office employee. Supposedly, he kept saying that he didn't want to serve and offered bribes. Employees, in turn, responded that serving was his duty and that the police would be called.

Again, according to the military registration and enlistment office representatives, Ravshanbekov did not leave with the team heading to Qaraganda the next day but stayed at the assembly point. When left unattended, he bent the grate on the second floor and jumped out.

Bekhruz Ravshanbekov's version demonstrates a different perspective. 

His lawyer, Evgeny Yavorsky, said Bekbayev did not introduce himself but immediately asked about his birth year. 

There was a stranger standing in front of him, in civilian clothes. That's why Behruz decided not to tell him his real year of birth, the lawyer explains.

Even after Bekbayev's colleague discovered that Ravshanbekov was 18, they had no right to take him to the military registration and enlistment office.

Yevgeny Yavorsky explains that:

• Bekhruz Ravshanbekov is registered and lives in the Turkestan region. The people who detained him were representatives of the Shymkent military registration and enlistment office. As of 2019, these are two separate regions.
• In the Turkestan region, Bekhruz Ravshanbekov was not even registered with the military registration and enlistment office, and he did not evade conscription. Per legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, only evaders can be detained on the street.
• Only police officers have the right to detain draft dodgers. But they were not among those who brought Ravshanbekov to the military registration and enlistment office. 

According to Yavorsky, these were not the only law violations by the military registration and enlistment office representatives. He says Ravshanbekov was asked to pay a bribe at least three times to let him go.

The first time was in the car when the young man was being taken in.

They told him that if he gave 500 thousand tenge, he would be released. And he started calling his friends to find the money,the lawyer says.

The investigation concluded that this was not a serious attempt on the part of the military registration and enlistment office employee. 

Meanwhile, Evgeny Yavorsky notes that there is evidence that half a million was demanded in all seriousness. For example, Ravshanbekov's calls to his neighbor. And... the military registration and enlistment office employee saying he did not take this money because Ravshanbekov did not come up with it.

The second time, as the lawyer says, Bekhruz was offered to buy his way out of the army at the military registration and enlistment office.

According to him, the "offer" came from Yerkebulan Zhaksynbetov, an inspector.

And when the "conscript" said in the presence of someone from the military registration and enlistment office management that he had already resolved the issue of not sending him to the army with Zhaksynbetov, the latter assaulted him.

Then, Zhaksynbetov cut Ravshanbekov's hair while continuing to hit him in the face and eventually split his lip.

Bekhruz Ravshanbekov's parents arrived on the evening of April 26. He told them about everything that had happened to him in the last few hours. 

And when he was returning to the military registration and enlistment office building, he received a third "offer:"

Their conversation was overheard by a military police officer who was on duty there. And he said that the issue could be resolved for 700 thousand, the lawyer claims.

The lawyer also says Ravshanbekov was constantly mistreated at the military registration and enlistment office. And in the end, on the morning of April 27, he did jump out of a second-floor window.

But, as the lawyer insists, this was not an attempted escape but a suicide attempt. 

Bekhruz Ravshanbekov sustained a spinal fracture.

As Yevgeny Yavorsky said, the young man was bedridden for about three months. Now, Bekhruz has the first group of disability, and he is still undergoing rehabilitation. 

Ravshanbekov's relatives appealed to the Shymkent Military Prosecutor's Office.

In August, the military investigative department opened a criminal case under the article "Illegal Deprivation of Liberty by a Group of Persons Using Official Position."

According to Yevgeny Yavorsky, the investigators initially stated that the elements of a crime were evident.

The lawyer believes that it was not evidence that was absent but testimony—for example, the testimony of the neighbor whom Bekhruz called to ask for money. Bekhruz Ravshanbekov's testimony was also not included in the case. 

Indicating all these circumstances, Evgeny Yavorsky wrote a complaint and sent it to the Prosecutor General's Office, the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, and the Shymkent Garrison Military Prosecutor's Office.

Yavorsky and Bekhruz's family are still waiting for responses.

Although Bekhruz Ravshanbekov's case has not reached court, lawyer Evgeny Yavorsky has already had to represent his family's interests because the Shymkent Defense Department filed a lawsuit against Bekhruz's family. 

Bekhruz's father, Avazbek Gainanov, posted a video online describing the situation and addressing the president.

The Department of Defense believed that these videos were defaming public reputation.

That is true; in the end, they lost in the district and regional courts. Evgeny Yavorsky notes that there were some oddities here, too:

Behruz's father found 500 thousand tenge to hire lawyers - for him, this is a huge amount. When the court refused to consider the plaintiffs' case, we asked them to return the amount of legal costs to the defendant, as stipulated by law. But the judges in both the Tolebiysky District and the Turkestan Regional Court decided that only 10% of the amount - 50 thousand - should be paid.

In the lawyer's opinion, the case of Bekhruz Ravshanbekov could have been dropped because it would have created a judicial precedent.

He believes everyone who has been illegally dragged straight from the streets to the military registration and enlistment offices in recent years would have been able to appeal to the court.

From The Editorial Team.

The Ministry of Defense explained that, by law, the army is not responsible for conscription but local executive bodies. The commission's chairs are deputy Akims of regions, cities, and districts.

They, in turn, form commissions from officials of lower rank. Although they do not have the legal authority to detain conscripts (the police should do this), things happen differently.

And, as the Shymkent story shows, such a scheme can be carried out with absolute impunity.

Original Author: Igor Ulitin

This is a translation, the original piece was published on 29/11/24. For accuracy, please refer to it.