The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) exposed a scheme in one of the district courts of Odesa that allowed men of draft age to avoid mobilization and illegally leave Ukraine. The court established the place of residence of the minor child with the father so that he could use such a decision as a basis for going abroad with her.
This was reported by NABU.
Investigators documented the transfer of a $1 500 bribe to one of the judges for a promise to make the "necessary" decision. He was informed of the suspicion under Part 3 of Art. 368 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. NABU and SAP [Specialized Anti-corruption Prosecution] do not name the judge.
In the NGL.media investigation, they claim that it is about the Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky City District Court in Odesa. In it, more than 30% of such decisions (more than 850) were adopted throughout Ukraine for 2023.
According to the analytical report of the "DEJURE Foundation" and "YurFem", in 2019 a total of 589 such court decisions were passed — in only 133 cases, the decisions were in favor of the father, because previously men rarely filed lawsuits to determine the place of residence of children. In 2022, the situation changed — 859 men already received court decisions on cohabitation and child maintenance in their favor. And for 2023, 2 708 such decisions were recorded in Ukrainian courts.
Over the years, the number of court decisions on the residence of children in favor of men has increased
NGL.mеdіа
Lawsuits were brought to the Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky City District Court from all over the country — from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Lviv, and even from the Carpathian village of Yablunytsia. According to NGL.mediaʼs source at NABU, this became possible, in particular, thanks to the conclusion of fictitious housing lease agreements in the Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky district.
On the condition of anonymity, one of the men, who fictitiously divorced and through the court chose the right to support the child, told journalists that in this way he wanted to avoid mobilization and go abroad if necessary. To confirm his position in court, he collected written evidence that his wife had not lived with the children for a long time, although this was not true. Such a service costs from $3 500, which clients paid to lawyers in accordance with official legal aid contracts, and then lawyers transferred the money to judges.
The investigation claims that almost all such decisions were made by only four judges of this court: Chairman Oleksandr Boyarskyi (364), Serhiy Savytskyi (312), Valentyn Zaveryukha (124) and Yulia Shevchuk (30). The newspaper considers Oleksandr Boyarskyi, the former chairman of the Bilhorod-Dnistrovsky City District Court, to be the organizer of such a scheme to evade mobilization.
- The National Police of Ukraine opened about 9 000 criminal proceedings for evasion of mobilization, almost 2 600 such criminal proceedings have already been brought to court.