“The law is not yet planned.” What MPs and Lawyers Say About Electronic Subpoenas

Yuri Shvytkin, a member of the Defense Committee, said on Friday that summonses to the military registration and enlistment office would be issued by state services. Such a notice, according to the deputy, will be likened to a personal surrender. The senators and the lawyer said that to date such a provision of the law does not exist.
Yuriy Shvytkin stressed that the electronic document will be equated with the personal receipt of the summons.
“That was just one of the goals – to minimize the percentage of draft evaders. If (an agenda) went through the ‘Gosuslugi’, you have to follow it. Delivery in electronic form is the same as in nobody,” the MP said.
Later Friday, in correspondence with Fontanka, Yuri Shvytkin could not confirm information on the distribution of summonses by the “Gosuslugi”. “This issue has not yet been considered by the committee,” Shvytkin said. The deputy left unanswered the correspondent’s clarifying question about how the information appeared in the media.
Earlier, during a briefing at the General Staff of the Ministry of Defence, it was reported that the task of “notifying citizens in electronic form” had been set for the spring 2023 conscription, which will be held from April 1 to June 15.
“At the same time, in the absence of technical feasibility, the notification will be made by summons to appear”, added the staff.

What lawmakers say

However, Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the defense committee, denied this statement. According to him, “there is no subpoena in law through the ‘Gosuslugi’, transmits Ura.ru.

Andrey Klishas, ​​Chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Press Service of the Russian Federation Council
Andrey Klishas, ​​Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building writing in its telegram chain that there is no rule of law which would make it possible to assimilate electronic summonses to those delivered in person.
“Perhaps, my respected colleague MP Shvytkin thinks so, but there is no such law. The procedure for serving subpoenas is the same,” he wrote.
Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security, Viktor Bondarev also declared TASS that the law does not provide for the ability to serve a draft subpoena in electronic form.

“The electronic method of calling the military registration and enlistment office is not defined in Russian legislation. According to article 26 of the Federal Law “On military service and military service”, military enlistment offices are called upon to write events only with a summons, that according to article 31 of the same law Federal, the conscript must receive against signature. The Code of Administrative Offenses defines liability for non-appearance at the registry office and military enlistment only in the event of a summons by a summons to appear,” the senator stressed.
Chairman of the Committee for Information Policy, Information Technology and Communications, Alexander Khinshtein also writing that the legislation does not provide for electronic summons to the military registration and enlistment office.
“Firstly, the law does not oblige a citizen to have an entry into the services of the State. Second, a person has the right to both create a record and delete it at any time. There is no responsibility for this and it is not expected,” he stressed.
Deputy of the State Duma, member of the defense committee Andrei Gurulev told RTVI that he did not know anything about the intentions to equate electronic summonses with those delivered in person.
“It’s easier to ask Deputy Shvytkin where he got it from. I am now at the regional week in Chita and have not touched on this topic. Come on, we’ll get through this. But if Shvytkin knows, let him report where this information came from. I don’t know anything about it,” Gurulev said.
Another parliamentarian, member of the defense committee, Dmitry Kuznetsov, also told RTVI that he knew nothing about the distribution of electronic summonses and their legal status.
Lawyer Sergey Badamshin writing that paragraph 7 of the Regulations on conscription of citizens of the Russian Federation for military service assumes only the personal delivery of summonses by employees of military registration and enlistment offices.
“The summonses are given to the conscripts against receipt by the employees of the military commissariats… No electronic summons is yet provided for by law”, he recalled.

Are electronic subpoenas legal?

Lev Fedoseev/TASS
Lawyer Oleksandr Peredruk stressed in a conversation with RTVI that one must first understand what the intention to “equate” electronic summons with those received in person means. To do this at the legal level, it is necessary to change the legislation.
“At the moment, the provisions of the Federal Law “On military service and military service” have not changed, article 31 of this law states that a citizen is obliged to receive summonses, while receiving invitations against signature. The legislation has not changed in this part, so I see no reason to talk about another means of notification. But in case there are changes to the legislation, I admit that it is possible,” Peredruk stressed.
Already, some state bodies, such as courts, notify citizens of the need to appear electronically, but it requires the consent of the citizen to receive notifications in this way, the lawyer said. Legislation relating to summonses for military service remains unchanged.
“But, in my opinion, if in this case there is confirmation that the citizen received information about the need to appear in a timely manner and, for example, did not appear on such a summons, then I do not exclude not lawsuits. In other words, it is difficult to say in which direction the practice of law enforcement will go,” added Peredruk.
The question of how it will be possible to prove the receipt of an electronic summons, according to Alexander Peredruk, concerns the capabilities of the infrastructure that would make it possible to find out whether a particular file has been opened.
“I don’t know how it’s going to be.
This is a good key question, because you have to not only send subpoenas, but also monitor the receipt of them. If we look at the legislation as a whole, for example, cases of administrative violations, we are talking about the fact that the Supreme Court has repeatedly said that it is not enough to confirm the fact of sending a summons or notification, it is also necessary to verify that this document has been received by the recipient.
And that’s reasonable, because if you send something, it doesn’t mean it’s arrived,” he said.
In the meantime, according to the law, subpoenas can only be served on anyone against a signature, and this can be done anywhere, the lawyer recalled. According to him, the employees of the military commissariats, as well as the so-called reinforcement apparatus of the military commissariats, have the right to serve the summons.
“This can be done in exceptional cases by the police, when, for example, they were approached by employees of military registration and enlistment offices if it was impossible to establish the whereabouts of the conscript. Or they can do it, for example, through an employer or through the military office of an educational institution, ”concluded Alexander Peredruk.