Roundup: No exemptions given for Lithuanian military conscription

Lithuanian young men experienced a moment of truth on Wednesday as the defense ministry was publishing the lists of conscripts to mandatory nine-month military service.

The lists included names of 36,825 young men of ages from 19 to 26 years. In the coming 20 days, they will receive summons to appear for the medical examination.

Juozas Olekas, minister of national defense, says the conscripts will now have to wait for summons to be sent to them.

"The summons will inform about the place to arrive and the documents to have in order to redirect the conscript for medical expertise and assess if he is eligible to serve at the Lithuanian army," said Olekas in an interview with national radio broadcaster LRT.

The publication of the lists was a long awaited moment by the young men and their family members. The defense ministry's website where the lists were published reportedly broke down for a while due to intensive traffic.

REACTIONS

The lists were published with the names and birth dates of those drafted so as to allow everyone to check if they're on the lists. Social and news media were full of reactions from those who found their names on the lists.

"It looked like a joke. But after a while a tragedy feeling embraced. What will happen next? What about my job, personal life, my loan?" Tomas, one of the drafted young men, told news website delfi.lt.

"I disapprove of reintroduction of military conscription service, but I obey and follow the Lithuanian law," said Edgaras, another conscript from Vilnius, Lithuanian capital.

According to the survey carried out by delfi.lt, 51.9 percent of those polled support the mandatory military conscription, while 27.9 percent are against it.

NO EXEMPTIONS

The conscripts have been selected randomly by using computer programs and under supervision of public observers. The process was made public in order to guarantee transparency and avoid corruption cases showing that there will be no exemptions for those drafted to the military service.

Famous names can be seen in the lists of the conscripts. Among them is Ricardas Berankis, a tennis player, currently 91st at the ATP World Tour rankings. Tautvydas Sabonis, a 22-year-old basketball player, currently playing in Spain and a son of Arvydas Sabonis, a legendary Lithuanian basketball player.

However, globally famous artists, athletes and scientists can be exempted from mandatory military service under order of the defense minister.

The total number of conscripts to be selected for the mandatory service this year is 3,000.

Lithuania, a small Baltic country, reintroduced mandatory military conscription for five years in response to the changing security situation in the Eastern Europe, aiming to improve manning in military units and build up the sufficient military reserve. The conscription in Lithuania was abolished in 2008. Enditem