On January 6, the Pechersky District Court of Kyiv extended the detention of a serviceman of the 56th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade of Mariupol Serhiy Hnezdilov, who publicly went AWOL (leaving the military unit without permission) in September 2024.
This is reported by Suspilne.
Thus, he will remain in pre-trial detention until January 31, 2025, without the right to post bail.
Prosecutor Mykola Shelest asked the court to extend Hnezdilovʼs preventive detention until March 15, without the right to post bail. In particular, he believes that the serviceman may be hiding from the investigation and the court.
In turn, Hnezdilovʼs lawyer Anastasia Burkovska asked the court to soften the preventive measure, in particular, to replace detention with house arrest.
What preceded
Serhiy Hnezdilov is a 24-year-old serviceman who joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2019. His three-year contract was due to expire in March 2022.
All these years he fought in the 56th Mariupol Motorized Infantry Brigade. On September 19, 2024, Hnezdilov went to the North-West Frontier (voluntarily left the unit) and two days later publicly announced this on Facebook. He explained that he wanted to draw attention to the problem when some fight indefinitely, while others do not plan to mobilize.
Already on October 9, Hnezdilov was detained. The next day, he was suspected of desertion. He was sent to military custody on October 11.
An interview with Serhiy was published on the Babel YouTube channel, where we voiced the accusations and arguments of different sides. Here are the main points of the conversation, be sure to watch the full version.
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