Seven schemes for draft dodgers have been dismantled: 18 organisers have been detained, including unit commander, pastor, TCR soldier and medical personnel, – SSU. PHOTOS
The Security Service, the State Bureau of Investigations and the National Police have foiled eight new "evasion" schemes in various regions of Ukraine.
This was reported by the SSU, as relayed by Censor.NET.
It is noted that, following comprehensive operations, 18 organisers of these schemes were detained; they had been offering conscripts the chance to ‘avoid’ military service and travel abroad illegally in exchange for money.
Kyiv
In Kyiv, the SSU and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) exposed the commander of one of the military units and five of his accomplices, who had organised the fictitious enlistment of draft dodgers into military service.
It was established that the officer assigned them to posts as riflemen, electricians and drivers without them actually being present at the units’ premises. In return, the ‘conscripts’ were required to pay the organiser of the scheme between 20,000 and 50,000 hryvnias per person each month.
Chernivtsi region
In the Chernivtsi region, a pastor from one of the Protestant churches in the Kyiv region was exposed for smuggling draft dodgers into a neighbouring EU country in exchange for 7,500 euros.
The suspect involved a female parishioner and a deacon in the criminal scheme; they sought out individuals attempting to evade mobilisation and also secretly removed men who had already been mobilised from military units. The pastor would then drive them to the border in his own car and instruct them on how to cross it on foot outside official checkpoints.
Carpathian Region
In the Carpathian region, an employee of the district military registration and enlistment office was arrested for promising servicemen, in exchange for 6,500 dollars, a transfer to rear units on the grounds of ‘poor’ health.
To this end, the perpetrator promised to enlist the help of acquaintances on the military medical commission, who were to falsify medical documents.
Kherson Region
In the Kherson region, the head of a village council and two managers of local housing and utilities companies have been detained for fictitiously employing draft dodgers and subsequently ‘reserving’ their places.
After the paperwork was completed, the suspects collected the salaries of at least 11 people who had been fictitiously employed. The total amount of funds illegally obtained by the officials amounts to over 1.2 million hryvnias.
Cherkasy region
In the Cherkasy region, the chair and a member of a medical advisory committee were exposed for assigning fictitious disability categories to relatives of those liable for military service.
In this way, those evading military service were able to obtain the status of carers and travel abroad under the pretext of accompanying their disabled family members for medical treatment. The indictment against both suspects has already been sent to court.
Lviv Region
In Lviv Region, a nurse from one of the hospitals in the Sheptytskyi District has been detained for accepting bribes to help conscripts obtain disability status.
Vinnytsia region
In Vinnytsia region, the SSU has also exposed two further organisers of a ‘draft-evasion scheme’, one of whom is a foreign national.
The traffickers were seeking out potential "clients", whom they promised to take to the Odesa region and from there smuggle across the border, bypassing checkpoints.
What they face
The suspects have now been notified of the charges against them under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine relating to the offences committed:
- Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of power or official position resulting in serious consequences);
- Part 3 of Article 27, Part 4 of Article 409 (evasion by a military serviceman of military service duties through self-mutilation or by feigning illness, forging documents or other deception, committed under martial law by a group of persons acting in collusion);
- Article 332(3) (the unlawful smuggling of persons across the state border of Ukraine);
- Article 368(3) (acceptance of an offer or promise, or receipt of an unlawful benefit by a public official);
- Article 366(1) (forgery in the course of official duties);
- Article 27(5) and Article 408(4) (desertion);
- Article 191(5) (misappropriation, embezzlement or acquisition of property through abuse of official position, committed on a particularly large scale or by an organised group);
- Article 114-1(1) (obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other military formations during a state of emergency).
The perpetrators face up to 12 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.
