The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) have dismantled a mobilization evasion scheme in one of the city district courts of the Odesa region.
This is reported by SBU.
According to the case materials, the defendants helped the men flee abroad by making deliberately falsified decisions about the independent upbringing of the child by the father who was conscripted.
The crimes were documented for over a year. During this time, eight alleged participants in the deal were exposed. Among them, in particular, the chairman and two judges of this court, the deputy head of its staff, other employees of the institutionʼs staff, and affiliated lawyers.
Lawyers and their assistants were looking for clients: on social networks they offered a supposedly legal way for those liable for military service to leave Ukraine. The cost of the “service” for men of military age was $3 500. According to SBU, the court made such decisions en masse without the parties being present in the courtroom.
To carry out the conspiracy, the defendants held "business meetings" with clients at the office of a local law firm. According to the investigation, they discussed ways to illegally obtain a deferral from mobilization and the cost of the "service".
During searches in the administrative building of the court, in the offices and apartments of the suspects, documents, mobile phones and computers with evidence were found. Law enforcement officers informed the head of the court, seven of his alleged accomplices and other persons involved about suspicion under Art. 114-1, Art. 332, Art. 368, Art. 369, Art. 376-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
Three judges were disciplined in the form of a motion to dismiss them. The defendants face up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.
For more news and in-depth stories from Ukraine please follow us on X.