Court remanded military man Hnezdilov to custody for two months
Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv has imposed a pre-trial restraint on Serhii Hnezdilov, a soldier of the 56th Brigade, in the form of two months in custody. The soldier is suspected of desertion.
This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to hromadske.
The prosecutor's office asked for 60 days of detention for Hnezdilov, until December 12, without bail. The defense asked to reject the motion.
The prosecution believes that detention, in particular, will eliminate the risk of absconding. The prosecutors referred to the fact that after the AWOL, Hnezdilov constantly changed his location and contact details.
Oleksandr Shadrin, Hnezdilov's defense lawyer, indicated that the court could set bail. He also asked to take into account the fact that Hnezdilov went to the front at the age of 19, signing a 3-year contract with the Armed Forces, and was supposed to be released in early 2022. In addition, the military man is still under 25 years old.
A number of people who came to the court to support Hnezdilov volunteered to bail him out. They also demanded the establishment of clear terms of service.
It is noted that Hnezdilov's lawyers filed a motion to recuse the judge at the beginning of the hearing. In particular, defense counsel Oleksandr Shadrin explained that in Hnezdilov's case, the trial was supposed to take place immediately after the detention of the serviceman, but it happened only a day after the arrest. Therefore, according to Shadrin, there is reason to believe that the prosecution is trying to select a specific judge to hear the case.
The court denied the lawyer's motion to disqualify the judge. The court also rejected the motion to transfer the trial to Shevchenkivskyi District Court.
As previously reported, Hnezdilov himself stated that he was ready to return to military service if the Ministry of Defense introduced a legislative initiative to establish clear terms of military service.
He also stated that he would go on a hunger strike if the Ministry of Defense did not develop a draft law on demobilization.
What preceded it?
As a reminder, on September 21, 2024, the soldier wrote on Facebook that he had gone AWOL from his unit to draw attention to the need to set terms of service for mobilized soldiers.
"The absence of clear terms of service contributes to 'black demobilization': marriages to pensioners with disabilities were once a meme, but now they are very common, divorcing wives to get sole custody of their children, divorcing their own parents to get care for their mother or father, going AWOL. There is a lot to learn from history, but unfortunately, we do not learn the lessons of history.
The government is still incapable of a serious dialog with society and intolerant of the failure to fulfill civic duty by a wide range of citizens. Instead of the doctrine that "fighting is the duty of every citizen," the government proposes to appoint those who were caught on the streets as defenders for an indefinite period of time," he explained.
The 56th Separate Motorised Infantry Brigade ordered an internal investigation.
Subsequently, Serhii Hnezdilov, a soldier of the 56th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade, who publicly reported on AWOL, was served with a suspicion of desertion.
Hnezdilov took part in battles in the Donetsk region, including Pisky and Bakhmut. He is also the founder of the cultural festival VydelkaFest in his hometown of Vilkovo in the Odesa region and hosts the Hromadske podcast "++ Podcast", where he talks to the military and raises the issue of militarisation of society.
Censor.NET previously published an interview with Hnezdilov.
