Evading conscription in Zainsk: the court fined the conscript 70,000 rubles under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

      A resident of Zainsk, Republic of Tatarstan, has been sentenced to a hefty fine for systematic evasion of military service. During the spring and autumn conscription campaigns of 2025, a resident of the city of Zainsk, conscript Sh., received official summonses requiring him to appear at the military commissariat for dispatch to the place of service. Within the deadlines set by the document, the young man did not arrive at the military enlistment office, failing to provide any documentary evidence of valid reasons for his absence. The draft commission, having reviewed the personal file, had information about the presence of certain chronic diseases in citizen Sh. However, medical examinations conducted as part of the conscription, including a control examination, unequivocally confirmed: his health status corresponds to the fitness category "B-3." This category implies fitness for military service with minor restrictions on the types of troops.

      Unfounded attempts to challenge the military commissariat's decision. Disagreeing with the doctors' verdict, the conscript attempted to appeal the draft commission's decision in court. He filed two independent administrative lawsuits, insisting on the presence of a disease that would exempt him from military service. Nevertheless, the court, having examined all the case materials, including official medical examination conclusions, denied these claims. The judicial acts noted that the applicant's arguments lacked objective confirmation.

      Legal consequences: the verdict of the Zainsk City Court. The actions of citizen Sh. were qualified by the investigation as a criminally punishable act. On January 15, 2026, the Zainsk City Court of the Republic of Tatarstan issued a guilty verdict. The court established that the conscript evaded conscription for military service with no legal grounds for exemption from this duty. The defendant's guilt was deemed proven in accordance with part 1 of Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Evasion of conscription for military service in the absence of legal grounds for exemption from this service"). The penalty chosen was a monetary fine.

      The penalty under Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The court imposed a fine on the guilty party, the amount of which was 70,000 (seventy thousand) rubles. This amount is to be credited to the federal budget. At the time of publication, the verdict had not yet entered into legal force, which means it can be appealed within the legally established appellate period.

      Important conclusions from judicial practice for conscripts. This precedent in Zainsk clearly demonstrates several key aspects of the modern conscription campaign:

      - Failure to appear in response to a summons without documented evidence of a valid reason is regarded as a serious offense.

      - The subjective opinion of the conscript regarding their health status is not a basis for failing to fulfill obligations. The final decision is made based on the results of official medical examinations.

      - Repeated evasion (in this case, over two conscriptions) almost certainly leads to the initiation of a criminal case.

      Article 328 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides not only for a fine (up to 200,000 rubles) but also for alternative types of punishment, including compulsory labor or arrest. The legal way for those who disagree with the military commissariat's decision is to appeal to a higher draft commission or to court before receiving a summons for dispatch. Evasion from an already received summons creates exclusively criminal law risks, not administrative ones.