Autumn draft: can they take people from the street into the army?

The National Police is involved in the search, detention and delivery of those who received a summons, but did not arrive at the time and place specified in it without good reason, explains Natalia Kulikova, a lawyer at the Chernihiv Office of the Legal Development Network. According to the lawyer, law enforcement officers or military enlistment office employees do not have the right to take all the boys who fall under the draft age from the street to the military commissariat. Natalia Kulikova explains the legislative norms that regulate the procedure for conscription of young men for military service.

The autumn draft started in Ukraine on October 5 and will continue until November 28, according to the All-Ukrainian media.

10,460 citizens of Ukraine are subject to conscription for military service in October-November of this year.

As the lawyer of the Office at the Chernihiv Public Committee for the Protection of Human Rights notes, this fall they started talking again about the problems and illegal actions of military enlistment office employees/police or other persons during conscription. People complain that supposedly boys of draft age are taken straight from the streets to military enlistment offices.

– Boys from another region called our reception by phone, but they did not say from which city. They were interested in whether police officers have the right to stop and check documents on the street, and then hand them a summons to the military enlistment office, because that is how they were handed a summons. The boys also asked what they should do and what their rights were,

– explains

Natalia Kulikova

.

According to the lawyer, in accordance with Article 38 of the Law of Ukraine “On Military Duty and Military Service”, there is a procedure according to which conscription for military service is carried out.

– Since in a country that has been at war for several years, it is necessary to accumulate a military-trained mobilization resource, this is done at the expense of young men who have reached the age of 20 and who have not reached the age of 27,

– notes Natalia Kulikova.

Let us recall that conscripts of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are not involved in performing tasks in the ATO.

– Since there is a clear procedure for conscription, it should be noted that sometimes the actions of police representatives exceed their authority, because it is illegal to pick up people on the street,

– the lawyer comments.

The lawyer explains that during the draft, the powers of military commissariats are limited to meeting conscripts, conducting an interview, medical examination, sending them to service/give a deferment/declare them unfit. At the request and on behalf of the military commissariat, summonses are served by housing and communal services, condominiums, heads of enterprises, organizations, institutions, and educational institutions. The form of ownership of the institution does not matter. In the event of the person who was served with the summons failing to appear, the military commissariat transfers the case to the police. And only after that, as a rule, is the conscript warned about the transfer of the case to the police. In particular, with the hope that the person will still “change his mind” and appear for data verification, registration, and in some cases, to undergo a medical examination.

The National Police is involved in the search, detention and delivery of those who received a summons, but did not arrive at the time and place specified in it without good reason.

If the case is transferred to the police, they are given:

the personal file,

an extract from the commission’s protocol on the decision to refer the case to law enforcement agencies,

a copy of the summons with the signature of the person who received it (as confirmation of the draft notification),

an extract from the list of persons summoned with a note about the non-appearance of specific persons,

explanations of military enlistment office officials,

explanations of those who handed over the summons,

various other documents proving that the person received information about the draft, but did not appear.

– That is, the police are looking for a specific person and have a complete “package” for him, and do not “eyeball” people who are theoretically subject to conscription, and who would be good to deliver to the military registration and enlistment office,

– explains Natalia Kulikova.

– But judging by the appeals to our organization, everything is happening, however, proving the abuse of official authority by employees of military registration and enlistment offices, law enforcement agencies or other institutions is a difficult matter, and therefore the burden of proof falls on the applicant.

According to the lawyer, evidence can most likely be only witnesses, because no documents are drawn up, only summonses are handed over for signature.

Therefore, only you can decide whether it is worth spending time and money on efforts to bring the violators to justice.

The lawyer notes that for violation of the legislation on defense, mobilization training and mobilization, a fine of ten to thirty non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens is imposed on citizens and from thirty to one hundred non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens on officials (Part 1, Article 210 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses). In the event of evasion of a conscript from military registration after a warning issued by the relevant military commissariat, criminal liability arises under Article 337 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.