How system of rights protection in army works: real stories and mechanisms
In times of war, the rights of the military become not only a matter of justice, but also a matter of national security. Protecting those who risk their lives every day is about trust in the army, morale, and the ability of the system to work together even in crisis situations.
Ukraine still does not have a military ombudsman institution, which exists in many other countries. However, the Central Department for the Protection of Servicemen's Rights of the Ministry of Defense, established this year, actually performs its functions. That is why we talked to Taras Bezpalyi, the deputy head of this department, about the most common complaints from the military and their families and the possibilities of those who are currently defending their rights.
"WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO CONDUCT INSPECTIONS AND RECEIVE ANY INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS FROM MILITARY UNITS"
- Many countries have military ombudsman institutions. When your office was created, it was positioned as an attempt to launch something similar. Why didn't you create a military ombudsman institution, but limited it to a department within the Ministry of Defense? And how does your office interact with the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights?
- During martial law, it is not possible to amend the Constitution, and the adoption of a separate law would take a long time, so we decided to create the Central Department for the Protection of Servicemen's Rights. But we are solving the tasks assigned to the military ombudsman today.
The Central Office is part of the Ministry of Defense and reports directly to the Minister. It consists of three departments. The first one deals with complaints from military personnel, and it includes a gender equality department. The second deals with the protection of the rights and freedoms of military family members. And the third is the information and analytical department, which includes the OSINT department and the organizational planning department.
I should also note that the second department has a department for cooperation with the Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights. If the Ombudsman receives complaints, some of them are forwarded to us, and the officers of the department take appropriate measures to protect the rights of the complainants.
Procedurally, it looks like this. Since a joint directive of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine and the Commander-in-Chief of the General Staff has been approved, we have the right to conduct inspections and receive any information and documents from military units, troop groups, etc.
Based on the results of such inspections, we prepare recommendations that are binding on the military unit.
Having identified those responsible for violating the rights of servicemen or their families, we send a letter to the General Staff to bring them to disciplinary responsibility.
- Can you give us an example?
- A few months ago, one of the TDF battalions was fully assigned to the Air Assault Forces. And somehow, during this transfer, 50 soldiers were not registered.
And these 50 people came to Kramatorsk, stayed in the basement for two months, and then they were told: "Hand over your helmets and armor and go home." They said: "How can we go home? This is AWOL, and we haven't even been paid our salaries for these two months." After that, they write a post on Facebook, which causes a wide response.
We contacted the TDF, and they explained to us that everyone has been transferred, as it should be. We contacted the Air Assault Forces brigade commander, who asked for a few hours to clarify the situation because he was not aware of it.
As a result, we found out that one of the officers had not registered the people. And when it became known, he tried to avoid responsibility.
- What about these people who were "lost"?
- A small part of them were actually found to be AWOL, and the rest were in service. Some had to be sent for medical treatment, others - to the MMC to determine their fitness for service in the airborne assault troops.
- How independent are you in assessing the situation? Or do you have to take into account someone else's interests?
- When the central administration was being formed, the first question was to whom we would report: The General Staff or the Ministry of Defense. To ensure that we could effectively perform the functions entrusted to us, it was decided to report to the Minister. Moreover, the Minister has recently approved an instruction on the procedure for conducting inspections. Previously, we had to write a report to the Minister and wait for his order to conduct an inspection, but now he has delegated to us the authority to make such a decision independently. With the signature of the head of the department or his deputies, we can issue an order for any violation of rights and go to the inspection. We don't need to coordinate this with anyone, we have our hands completely free, so to speak.
- And you should be allowed to visit any military unit without restrictions?
- Yes.
- Does this include trips to the front line?
- Absolutely. The other day, two of our officers went to the zero line in the Sumy region to conduct an inspection.
- What exactly do such inspections cover?
- Let me give you an example. We were approached by a soldier who said that he had been injured and was in a military hospital. But he was not issued a Form 100 certificate, so he could not receive treatment. We contacted the military unit and found out that this was not an isolated case, there are 42 such people there. In addition, it turned out that these people were considered to go AWOL from the military unit and did not receive financial support. Again, the human factor was at work, when someone made an incorrect accounting. As a result, 42 soldiers are in a military hospital after being wounded, and the brigade believes that they have gone AWOL. When we started the audit, the military unit conducted an internal investigation and found that there was no question of AWOL. The rights of these soldiers have been restored.
Now imagine if we had not detected this violation and the team had not detected it in time either. There would have been 42 criminal proceedings, and the State Bureau of Investigation and the Military Law Enforcement Service would have been involved in the investigation and search for people.
- You delicately refer to those responsible for such stories as the "human factor". But it's a crime, not just a lack of judgment. Don't you think so?
-Before the full-scale war, there were more than two hundred thousand people in the army, and now there are more than a million. Now let's look at who makes decisions and at what stage. I will draw you a diagram. Let's start with the subdivision. This is an average of ten people led by a soldier or sergeant. Next is a platoon. This is 30-40 people, usually led by a sergeant. Then there is a company, which consists of 80-100 people. It is led by an officer. The next is a battalion. There are about 4-5 companies there. There are already 5 officers who command the companies, plus a battalion commander, and a brigade commander above them.
Now calculate how many experienced officers are needed to lead the kind of army we have now. There are not enough career military officers. People are appointed who have once studied at a military department. But it is very difficult to quickly teach a person to do everything right in a war. Therefore, we do not aim to punish anyone. Our goal is to protect the rights of servicemen, to help, train and raise the professional level of officers and sergeants so that they can effectively lead and do what is needed.
- What about the responsibility of such people?
- In the army, there is an official inspection, which is the establishment of circumstances and facts. That is, whether the event took place at all and what led to it. And an internal investigation involves determining the degree of guilt of the serviceman and bringing him to justice. This is about the causal relationship between what happened and the actions of a particular person. Such internal investigations are also conducted, and servicemen are brought to disciplinary responsibility.
- Do you contact law enforcement agencies if there are grounds to believe that you are criminally liable?
- Where we see signs of a criminal offence, we file an application with the SBI or the National Police. Among our officers, 26 have a law degree. Of these, 9 are lawyers. These are people who have a professional understanding of criminal and criminal procedure law.
We always communicate with applicants who contact us. We understand that what is written is not always true. There can be slander.
There are also curious situations. For example, in one of the appeals that came to the Ombudsman's office and was forwarded to us, a woman complained that her husband was not provided with the necessary things in the army. They don't give him helmets, there are no ammunition load, and there are allegedly problems with food. The appeal contained only her e-mail address, no other contacts. We write her a letter and ask her to provide her husband's contacts so that we can get all the information from him personally. We point out that according to the law on citizens' appeals, if a person does not have a power of attorney from him, such a person cannot write an appeal in his interests. She replied that she would not give us her husband's phone number, because if he found out that she had applied to anyone, he would divorce her. She also wrote that she had been in Poland for 2 years, missed her husband very much, and she needed him to be given a vacation and come to her.
"ONE OF THE MOST COMMON QUESTIONS FROM MILITARY FAMILIES IS ABOUT MISSING PERSONS"
- When relatives contact you, do you still communicate with the military in all cases?
-We check whether the facts reported by the military's relatives are true. For example, we were approached by the mother of one of the soldiers. She wrote that her son had been illegally mobilized and that he had health problems. We are trying to find her son. He said: "Listen, I'm here in the Kharkiv region, my guys and I serve in intelligence, everything is fine." The question is that this must be confirmed by the serviceman whose rights have been violated.
- But there may be a situation when a serviceman shares his experiences with his family, and he is afraid to complain to avoid making things worse. How do you assess the situation when deciding whether to conduct an inspection or not?
- There was a situation when a military unit received a request from a lawyer representing a serviceman. And this soldier was brought to disciplinary responsibility. We appointed an internal investigation into this situation and brought it to the military unit that this was not allowed. A person has the right to contact a lawyer and complain.
Subsequently, these materials were forwarded to the General Staff, and a decision was made to bring the commander of the unit to disciplinary responsibility.
Unfortunately, we still have limited resources to respond promptly to all complaints. I'll speak in terms of numbers. Last year, the Ministry of Defense's hotline received 180,000 calls. Of these, 140 thousand were consultations. The rest were complaints from the military and their relatives. Analyzing them, we realize that we can take about 2,600 complaints into consideration - about non-statutory relations, abuse of power by commanders.
And now we divide these 2,600 complaints by the number of days and 50 people who, according to the staffing table, should serve in our department. It is difficult to respond quickly to all the specific issues, so we primarily pay attention to those complaints that refer to violations of the rights of 20, 30, 50 or more servicemen. Because we want to help more people.
The second category is cases where there is publicity. Why is this important? Because it is a matter of the reputation of the Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense. Today, we have difficulties with mobilization, and when the actions of a commander discredit the Armed Forces, it has a bad effect on both defense capability and morale.
- What are the most common complaints? Can you name the top three complaints?
- Non-payment of additional remuneration, non-statutory relations, and orders with which the military does not agree. For example, a commander says that they need to move to a certain position, and the soldiers, not having all the information, complain that they are allegedly being sent somewhere illegally. Accordingly, we need to work with both the personnel and commanders to ensure that this information is communicated properly.
We have no right to interfere with the use of troops. If the General Staff has decided that a battalion should go to a certain area of operation, we have no right to evaluate it or influence it in any way.
This is not our prerogative, but the General Staff's, which decides how to fight. However, there was a case when we received a complaint from a battalion commander who wrote that he did not have enough men, so he could not move where he was told to, and we responded. He didn't refuse, he just explained that if they went there, he would "kill" the entire battalion.
We made a request to the General Staff to find out if they knew about this situation. A week later, the battalion was sent back to recover. Because there are rules that determine how many casualties a battalion cannot perform combat missions.
- You said that the most common complaints are about non-payment of additional remuneration. How do you explain this?
- The General Staff defines the combat zone. For example, Sumy region is now a combat zone. And in the first stage of the full-scale war in 2022, almost our entire border was a combat zone. People were sitting in the same Sumy region, nothing was happening there, and they were receiving 100 thousand hryvnias a month.
Then the legislation was amended and said that this money would be paid only to those who were performing combat missions in the war zone. And they began to distinguish between such tasks performed at "the zero line" and beyond. That is, if you are at the zero line, you get this additional reward. If you're 20 kilometers away, it's counted differently. And people who are 20-50 kilometers away believe that they are entitled to 100 thousand, so they file complaints.
The situation could be different. People were at "the zero line". They really had a combat order, but a certain official did not submit them for this payment. In such cases, we collect explanations from witnesses, check the combat order, etc. And we find out why the documents were not submitted for payment.
- If witnesses have confirmed that the soldier performed a combat mission, what happens next? How can he get paid?
- After the inspection, if such a fact is confirmed, we write an appeal to the General Staff, asking for an internal investigation, resumption of payments and disciplinary action against those responsible.
- Are there any complaints about criminal orders?
- And how do you assess whether an order is criminal?
- You tell me.
- I cannot assess whether an order is criminal. This should be done by law enforcement agencies, if there are grounds. Being in a certain combat situation, the commander gives an order to act or not to act, to leave the position or to stay there, based on his own experience and in accordance with the order of the higher command. This is his direct responsibility.
- How often do military families contact you and on what issues?
- One of the most common questions from military families is about missing persons. We do not search for them, but we at least try to get some information from the military unit.
The second place is the failure of the military unit to send documents on the deceased or missing person to the TCR, which prevents the family from receiving payments. They also very often ask for acts of official investigations to establish the circumstances under which a person died or went missing.
In addition, in their complaints, people also raise the issue of one-time financial assistance for the deceased. It happens that this process is very time-consuming.
We communicate with military units, with the TCR and others involved in such situations, and send inquiries. There are situations when the family of a serviceman approaches us and says: "We have submitted all the documents to the TCR, but no one has paid us anything for 4 months and no one has explained anything. We turn to the TCR. They say that they sent a request to the military unit 4 months ago. The military unit told us that they had not received the request. I ask: how could they not have received it if we can see that it was processed through the electronic document management system?
We contact the TCR again, ask them to resend the request, give us its incoming number, and communicate with the military unit again.
- How does this communication end? Do families receive payments?
- One of the most recent examples. We were approached by two female students whose father had died. Thanks to our work, they started receiving payments. In fact, in such situations, we work as lawyers for family members of military personnel, as we have certain powers over military units and can request information from them.
If we are talking about classic defense by lawyers, it happens differently. The lawyer writes a request and indicates that he wants to receive an answer within 5 days, as is required by law. He sends it to the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry of Defense says that it is not the information coordinator and sends it to the General Staff. From there, the request is sent to the OTG, the Intelligence Directorate, the OSGT, then to the brigade, then to the battalion. As a result, a lawyer's request, which should be considered in five days, wanders around for two months. And it is not a fact that a person gets exactly the answer he or she wants.
By systematizing complaints, we also develop proposals for changing the law if we see that it is unfair or ineffective.
For example, we have been approached by foreigners who are fighting for Ukraine. They say: we come to Ukraine, sign a contract. We are fighting. Then we want to go to our family to spend a vacation there. We leave, but we can't get back in because of a fine of 3,400 hryvnias. We ask them why. They explain that we have exceeded the period of stay in the country, which is 90 days.
The second situation. A foreigner's driver's license has expired. He cannot get it in Ukraine. At the same time, he drives a pickup truck on the contact line. He is stopped and told: "Friend, you don't have a driver's license." And there will be trouble.
We submitted proposals to amend six laws: "On the Legal Status of Foreigners and Stateless Persons," ‘On Social Protection of Military Personnel and Members of Their Families,’ ‘On Intelligence,’ and others.
I won't go into the details, because they are still under discussion. When they are adopted, we will tell you everything in detail.
- Can you give us an example of when something has already changed?
- Electronic reports. The thought leader was Liubov Halan from the NGO "Principle". Our department developed this procedure. Then, Deputy Minister Kateryna Chernohorenko launched the Army+ story.
We are now launching training for commanders, military personnel, and officials so that they understand how to use all this.
Together with the notary chamber, we are also conducting training for lawyers and commanders of military units. Now, during martial law, commanders have been given the right to perform certain notarial acts.
It was an initiative of the Notary Chamber, they approached us. What are notaries facing now? They draw up a will incorrectly and come to a notary, and the notary says they cannot implement it, and people go to court.
- So, commanders of military units can certify a will, am I right?
- Yes. And so that they do not make mistakes, we decided to organise such training.
- Nowadays, we hear more and more about the mobilisation of women. You said that there is a unit within the central administration that deals with gender issues. What is the current situation with these issues? Are women fighting on an equal footing with men, are they protected more, are their opportunities limited? Do you find out?
- It's more about non-statutory relationships. ‘Kitty’, "bunny" and similar references are unacceptable, and we conduct checks in such situations. We also study the facts of non-promotion. For example, a woman has been working for five years. A man is hired for the same position, works for a year and is promoted. And she still remains in the same position.
One of the investigations we conducted concerned sexual harassment.
- Is it finished?
- Yes. The individuals who committed it have been brought to disciplinary responsibility. We also filed a statement to the law enforcement agency about this fact.
- Were they ordinary soldiers or someone in command?
- Soldiers.
- Did you receive any similar statements about commanders?
- No.
- If they do, can you transfer the person to another unit for the period of investigation?
- Together with other departments of the Ministry of Defence, we are developing instructions on the prevention of sexual violence. It is currently undergoing external approval by civil society organisations. And in this instruction, we have included a provision that if we become aware of sexual harassment, violence or any facts of violations of equal rights, the Central Directorate should be informed so that it can intervene in this story. And that upon our submission, this soldier may be transferred to another unit. At least for the duration of the investigation.
- Recently, the story of Andrii Hlembotskyi, who died defending the country, became public. His wife said that the family was unable to receive a one-off payment from the state because it turned out that the military unit had no documents confirming that he had served there. I know that Ms Alina also turned to your department for help. Did you manage to help her? How common are such cases when it is not possible to document the fact of the deceased soldier's service to his family, and what should the families of the deceased do in such situations?
- I'll give you an example: I was mobilized at 10 a.m. on February 24. And I got my military registration on 18 March. Because you remember how difficult everything was at the beginning.
How can you establish that a person served in such cases? Through the court.
As for Alina Hlembotska, she contacted us a few weeks ago. We are now collecting evidence that her husband, who died, served and, due to certain circumstances, was not registered.
In the future, we will pass these materials directly to her. She will decide on the lawyers who will support this case. And in the future, she will appeal to the court.
- She has already applied but has achieved nothing.
- I read the decisions of the first and second instances. The court of the second instance explicitly wrote that the applicant had chosen the wrong method of defence. I will not comment on the position of her lawyers, because, as they say in Roman law, two lawyers have three opinions. But the cassation appeal that has been filed may change something.
- You said that you mobilized on the morning of the 24th of February. Why did you decide to go to war so quickly?
- On February 20, it was announced that the so-called LPR and DPR were part of Russia. The same day the Olympics ended. Something was in the air...
I came home and told my family: ‘There will be a war any day now’. Although, of course, I didn't want to believe it and hoped that nothing like that would happen.
Nevertheless, in two days I finished all my work issues as much as possible. And on the 23rd I went to the Fastiv military enlistment office. I asked them to tell me who my commander would be in case of a Russian attack, with whom I would fight. In fact, we had an agreement with our law firm partners that they were joining the 72nd Brigade. I wanted to go with them. But they offered to share the responsibility and for me to go to the TDF. That's what I wanted to do, so I went to the military registration and enlistment office. But they explained to me that I had to undergo a medical examination. On February 23, I visited three hospitals, all the doctors refused me, telling me to come on the clinic days.
- Have you packed your things?
- Yes. When I heard the first hits at five in the morning, I took the children to my ex-wife's house so that they could go to Uzhhorod together. My friend was supposed to meet them there.
I returned home, took my things and went to the military enlistment office. I came to the colonel and said: "I don't have MMC. Will you take me into service?"
- Did they take you into service without MMC?
- Yes. During the day, we set up the permanent duty stations, chopped wood, carried sandbags, and around midnight we were given weapons.
- Did you have any military service skills at that time?
- In 2015-2016, I was training with an instructor. He is a former border guard from Israel, he spent six years there.
We trained with him every weekend for two years. So I had at least a rough understanding of what to do at the beginning.
- Did he teach you to shoot too?
- But he taught me how to operate tactically, how to clear a building, how to enter and exit, move around, and work in groups.
- What advice would you give to servicemen who have just joined the army?
- Keep learning and don't be afraid to ask for help. You have not only responsibilities but also rights. The army is a very complex mechanism and often not perfect. Many misunderstandings can be resolved on the spot. If this does not work, you can contact the hotline, the mechanism for protecting rights has been created and it works.
Tatiana Bodnia, Censor.NET
