Surprise at the airport: a young disabled man arrested for evading military service



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The parents were overwhelmed: they had not received any summons, they were not hiding anywhere and they were convinced that the disabled son would not be included in the lists of recruits from birth. The Lithuanian Armed Forces are responsible for attracting all randomly selected youth.

Rūta and his family, who live in England and live in Lithuania, have been on annual leave from the first minute. As soon as the plane landed, her son was detained at the airport.

“We were detained at passport control because it turns out that Karolis is wanted. We flew at the same time last year and no one told us anything. It was explained to us that Karolis is wanted because he has been hiding from military service for two years” Karolis’ mother told LNK News.

Rūta’s son is 21 years old and has had health problems since birth: various heart surgeries and Down syndrome. The family has lived in England for 13 years and rarely comes to Lithuania. Therefore, hiding the charge to military service is called Rūta simply absurd.

And how do I know? My son was born in Lithuania, immediately with a disability from birth, I always imagined that such children are automatically removed from the lists. I really didn’t expect it, I didn’t have any information, I didn’t know anything, ”said my mother.

Ruth did not know that recruit lists are compiled randomly by a computer each year. And only then do the people of the Military Service and the Manning Service get involved in this process. However, even those with no name and year of birth have no further information about the recruit.

The Minister of National Defense, Raimundas Karoblis, told LNK that there is only one way out of this situation.

“There is no health data in any Lithuanian database, especially the reliable ones.” The first thing to do when you are on the list is to contact the Military Service and that will solve everything, “said the minister.

But not everything, as the minister says, is so easily resolved. After their arrest, Ruth and her son went into military service. And he even paid a fine of almost 16 euros.

“I asked him why I have to pay that fine; it is not a problem for me, I will pay it, but why. He answered me because I ignored him for two years. But I did not receive any summons, he confirmed that he did not even send one, because I live abroad, the address is unclear. It is again, why do I have to pay for it? “he asked.

Surprise at the airport: a young disabled man arrested for evading military service

© Mindaugas Milinis

But the laws are ruthless on Ruth’s family: young people must be interested in the draft lists. And according to a letter sent to the LNK by the Ministry of National Defense (MND), lists of recruits for a calendar year are published on the website (…), recruits must verify the published information and it can be imposed administrative or criminal liability for non-compliance.

Minister Karoblis assured that the laws must be followed.

“The law must be complied with and complied with. But in this case, its implementation would be simply by contacting, providing the necessary data to resolve the situation by itself. And you should not pay fines or have any other inconvenience,” said the head of the Ministry of Defense National.
Rūta in Lithuania lacks a more humane approach to problems similar to hers.

“Not for me, imagine, other women’s children are in strollers and they have to go through all that too. After all, this is a problem. Yes, mom could go there, but if she has a child. For example, my Christmas carol is a man of humor, it is difficult to stretch him if he does not want to do it, ”said his mother.

The woman says that where she lives now, attitudes towards people with disabilities are different: there is enough evidence to prove disability and no one else to prove anything to anyone. Ruth is preparing to go to the medical examination committee in a few months. This should decide on the suitability of the son for military service. The woman hopes that the available documents will be sufficient for the commission.

He only worries about the son, because he must also participate, but he does not know if he will be able to persuade him.



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