Inspections reveal widespread violations of service members’ rights in some AFU assault regiments – Reshetylova
Military Ombudsperson Olha Reshetylova has stated that a series of inspections in several assault regiments of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) revealed systemic violations of service members’ rights.
She said this in an interview with LB.ua, reports Censor.NET.
Violations of rights in the military
She said she visited several regiments with inspection missions, including one mandated by the president. In some units, inspectors uncovered what she described as "blatantly criminal conduct".
- Among the violations, the ombudsperson listed beatings, unlawful deprivation of liberty, and threats to the life and health of service members and their relatives.
According to her, the case files on incidents that bear signs of criminal offences have been handed over to law enforcement bodies, as this no longer falls within the remit of the military ombudsperson.
"The ball is now in the court of the Prosecutor General’s Office and law enforcement agencies. I hope they will be sufficiently effective in conducting this investigation," Reshetylova added.
At the same time, the ombudsperson stressed that this does not apply to all assault regiments — most carry out their combat tasks effectively, but there are "a few that at some point felt they could act with impunity".
Effectiveness of the investigation into violations
She added that everything now depends on how effectively law enforcement investigates and how quickly the commanders responsible are brought to account.
Despite this, she stressed that these units show high effectiveness on the battlefield, but that does not exempt them from responsibility for violating service members’ rights.
"We need to understand that they are indeed effective on the battlefield, and they are assigned missions of a nature that are extremely difficult to carry out. So I would not want what I have said to brand all assault units. One thing is effectiveness, another is holding people responsible for violations of service members’ rights," the ombudsperson concluded.
