Veteran with many children was forcibly detained in Chernivtsi; TCR officials have been served with notices of suspicion, – Lubinets. VIDEO
In Chernivtsi, a man with three children, combat experience and a valid deferment from mobilisation was forcibly placed into a minibus. Following the intervention of the Ombudsman’s Office, he was released, and officials from the TCR and the SS were informed of the allegations.
This was reported by Dmytro Lubinets, the Verkhovna Rada’s Human Rights Commissioner, according to Censor.NET.
According to the Ombudsman, he was approached by the wife of a combatant who had been defending Ukraine since the very first days of the full-scale invasion.
CCTV footage showed that the man was being followed after he left the city council building. Subsequently, an unidentified person wearing a balaclava forcibly dragged him into a minibus.
As Lubinets noted, the video shows no signs of proper notification or verification of military registration documents. The man himself also reported that physical force had been used against him and that he had been threatened with a pistol.
Deferral cancelled twice in a single day
Iryna Isopenko, the Ombudsman’s representative in the Chernivtsi region, carried out seven monitoring visits to local TCR and SS, and an assembly point to establish the man’s whereabouts.
It transpired that his deferral had been manually cancelled twice within a single day, even though the system automatically confirmed his entitlement to it as the father of three children.
Officials attributed this to an alleged arrears in child maintenance payments.
Meanwhile, the man was being transferred between facilities in Chernivtsi, a training centre in the Vinnytsia region and the town of Kitsman in Bukovyna. According to Lubinets, representatives of the TCR provided conflicting information about who had detained him and where he had been taken.
Following the intervention of the Ombudsman’s Office, the man was released, his right to freedom of movement was restored, and he was once again able to apply for a deferral.
TCR officials have been informed of the allegations
Lubinets contacted the Office of the Prosecutor General to report a possible criminal offence.
The State Bureau of Investigations is currently investigating possible unlawful actions by TCR officials. According to the Ombudsman, investigators are also looking into other incidents involving the possible acceptance of bribes, the beating of conscripts and the use of tear gas.
The head of one of the departments of the district TCR and SS, along with other military personnel, have been informed of the allegations. The court has imposed preventive measures on the suspects in the form of detention and house arrest.
"There must be no equivalence between mobilisation and a breach of the law," Lubinets emphasised.
The Ombudsman has called on the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to respond to possible violations of the rights of conscripts.
