Those responsible will be held accountable under the law. Is it possible to extradite fugitives?

Home News Those responsible will be held accountable under the law. Is it possible to extradite fugitives?

08.11.2023

Ukraine has undertaken a serious review of military medical commissions, and this procedure takes more than a year. MP David Arakhamia expressed this information during a telethon. The inspection of this system became necessary because there were cases when people tried to influence the decisions of the commissions by giving bribes and forging documents. It is expected that a preliminary analysis of this problem will be conducted relatively quickly and may take only a few months. However, as Arakhamia noted, according to Ukrainian law, both parties - those who gave bribes and the officials who accepted them - are liable. Thus, law enforcement agencies will have to make significant efforts to legalize evidence and bring charges. "What will happen to those who participated in these corruption schemes? They will be prosecuted in accordance with the law, they will be responsible for bribery, forgery and evasion of mobilization," explained Arakhamia. However, there is another issue - how to bring those who have already gone abroad. At the moment, this task is proving to be difficult for Ukraine's law enforcement agencies. However, according to the current Criminal Procedure Code, Ukraine has the opportunity to seek international legal assistance to extradite persons who have fled the country and are accused of corruption schemes. "So, any country in the world, with the possible exception of Russia, can be a place where our law enforcement agencies can request the extradition of such persons and bring them back to Ukraine, where they will be held accountable for their actions," the MP concluded. Thousands of Ukrainians liable for military service have gone abroad due to questionable decisions of military medical commissions. In some regions, after February 2022, the number of persons liable for military service who were removed from military registration due to the decisions of military medical commissions increased tenfold. According to the President, these decisions were corrupt. There is already concrete evidence of illegal decisions of military medical commissions that have been found in different regions of the country and associated with different officials. The amount of bribes that were paid ranges from $3,000 to $15,000. President Zelenskyy also said that an analysis would be conducted of conscripts who went abroad due to apparently dubious decisions of military medical commissions. This applies to people who have already been detained in connection with corrupt practices. Currently, the number of such persons is at least one thousand.