ECHR begins consideration of Riumshyn’s complaint, ex-commander of 155th SMB
The European Court of Human Rights has begun considering the complaint of the former commander of the 155th SMB Dmytro Riumshyn.
This was announced by Riumshyn's lawyer Andrii Yosypov, Censor.NET reports.
"The European Court of Human Rights has officially informed us about the start of consideration of the complaint 'Riumshyn v. Ukraine'. This means that in Strasbourg, unlike the Ukrainian courts, our complaint was not only read, but also recognized as sufficiently substantiated to ask some uncomfortable questions to the Ukrainian government," Yosypov said.
The complaint to the ECHR is based on gross violations of fundamental rights committed by national courts. Riumshyn's lawyers claim to the ECHR that the Ukrainian courts violated Article 5 § 3 of the Convention (the right to liberty and personal integrity), because:
- The detention was unreasonable. The courts did not provide any real evidence of the risks cited by the prosecutor and ignored the possibility of personal guarantees from MPs
- Exorbitant bail was set. The courts set astronomical bail amounts (UAH 90.8 million), which is hundreds of times higher than the legal limits, and did not explain why the case was "exceptional". At the same time, the evidence of the real property status of the military and his family was completely ignored.
We also claim to the ECHR a violation of Article 6 § 1 of the Convention (the right to a fair trial), because:
- Court hearings were unreasonably closed. Referring to the formal existence of "secrecy", the courts deprived the public of the opportunity to hear the position of the defence. This allowed the prosecution to form a false opinion in society about the alleged "corruption component", which is not even charged in the official suspicion against Dmytro Riumshyn.
The situation in the 155th Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the case against its commander, Colonel Riumshyn
As a reminder, on 1 January 2025, Censor.NET editor-in-chief Yurii Butusov outlined a number of facts about the circumstances of the formation and functioning of the 155th mechanised brigade "Anna Kyivska", which entered the battle near Pokrovsk and suffered significant losses there.
According to him, the 155th Brigade faced a number of problems: 1,700 soldiers left the brigade without permission before the first battle, the brigade commander was fired immediately after the battle, and one of the brigade's leaders died of a heart attack.
Butusov conducted a lengthy investigation to find out what exactly led to the significant losses of brigade personnel and equipment and massive AWOL.
In October, the 155th Brigade left for training in France. 1924 servicemen were sent there, of whom only 51 had more than a year of military service experience, 459 had up to a year of experience, and the majority, 1414, had just enlisted and served for less than 2 months, about 150 were sent to France even without undergoing the BGMT. About 50 military brigades fled to France.
The editor-in-chief of Censor.NET also reports that the brigade was not provided with the necessary weapons. In particular, the brigade has not received a single drone from the state to carry out combat missions. Also, according to Butusov, there were no electronic warfare equipment. The brigade was supplied by volunteers.In addition, all the 120 mm mortar shells produced by the Ministry of Strategic Industries that were given to the brigade were defective.
On 2 January, it became known that the State Bureau of Investigation had launched an investigation into the massive AWOL in the 155th "Anna Kyivska" Brigade following media reports. In turn, the French Ministry of Defence did not comment on the information that the 155th "Anna Kyivska" Brigade, trained by the French Armed Forces, was the subject of an investigation in Ukraine.
Also in early January, the results of a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff regarding the 155th Brigade "Anna Kyivska" became known.
On 5 January, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi , promised to increase the capabilities of the 155th Brigade and admitted that there were problems that needed to be addressed.
The editor-in-chief of Censor.NET, Yurii Butusov, said that the formation of new brigades without their support was a gross mistake that was costly for the country.
On 20 January 2025, the former commander of the 155th Brigade, Riumshyn, was detained by the SSU. And on 22 January, the Pecherskyi District Court of Kyiv imposed a bail of UAH 90 million on him.
On 6 February, the Kyiv Court of Appeal left Riumshyn in custody. The court refused to release him on bail, instead reducing the bail from UAH 90 million to UAH 50 million.
On 11 June, the court remanded Riumshyn in custody until 20 July and reduced his bail to UAH 27 million.
