From 3 thousand cases per investigator: a lawyer explains why most SZH cases do not go to court
15 October 13:22
EXCLUSIVE
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, more than 290,000 criminal proceedings have been opened in Ukraine under articles on unauthorized abandonment of a unit (UAU) and desertion, according to the latest data from the Office of the Prosecutor General.
According to lawyer and advocate Taras Borovsky, this figure does not reflect the actual number of soldiers who have left the service.
According to the expert, many of the soldiers against whom proceedings on AWOL were opened returned to service or were transferred to other units. They often used AWOL as a way to change their place of service due to conflicts with commanders or inadequacy of their position.
“290 thousand cases does not mean 290 thousand people who went to the NWC. Very often several cases are opened against the same person. It can be 2-3 cases per person. Therefore, when we talk about the number of cases, we need to understand that the actual number of SZH is much smaller, three or even four times less,” Borovskyi said.
According to the lawyer, the vast majority of these proceedings will not go to court. They will be closed due to the absence of a criminal offense, the expiration of the time limit for bringing to criminal responsibility, etc.
“Or the cases will simply lie dormant for years due to the workload of investigators. We often have cases falling apart, so I expect some of the cases on the EWC to fall apart,” he added.
The lawyer also drew attention to the overload of the law enforcement and judicial systems, which complicates the process of investigating cases.
“I think that we have 3-5 thousand cases per investigator at a time. Their offices are literally overwhelmed with folders with proceedings,” the lawyer said.
According to Borovskyi, this allows real criminals to avoid responsibility, while law enforcement officers are forced to spend time investigating dubious cases.
“While we see spam in the form of 290,000 cases of human trafficking, some drug dealer, rapist or murderer is walking free,” the expert noted.
According to the lawyer, the state should consider more flexible mechanisms for returning servicemen with combat experience to the army.
“Today, the state is on the verge of threatening its survival, and chasing people for invented reasons to encourage them to continue serving is wrong behavior. We need to move a little bit towards liberalization,” Borovskyi summarized.
Thus, the real picture of criminal cases of SEM is different from the official statistics. The expert emphasizes that the current burden on the judicial system is to reconsider approaches to the military who “went to the HRW”
