Complaint to the military prosecutor’s office

Complaint to the military prosecutor’s office

Author

Kozyan Tatyana

When a person defends the Motherland in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, he carries an honorable and at the same time dangerous mission. But often the danger is connected not only with the objective circumstances of the war, but also with the actions or inaction of commanders who issue illegal orders, or make insufficient efforts within their competence to preserve the lives of personnel. In such a case, it is important for a serviceman to understand the mechanisms for protecting his rights. In this case, the team of the Prikhodko&Partners law firm can come to your aid. Military law is one of the areas that make up our key specialization. Therefore, we regularly take on client requests related to the protection of the rights of servicemen and help, focusing on the result.

What you need to know in order not to get confused?

When a person finds himself in dangerous and unfamiliar conditions, it becomes difficult for him to orient himself. The usual algorithms of behavior that operated in civilian life seem unsuitable, and the arbitrariness of officials (in this case, commanders) can appear unpunished. However, it should not be forgotten that the relationship between commanders and their subordinates is carefully regulated by a whole range of legislative and sub-legislative legal acts, starting with the Law of Ukraine "On Military Duty and Military Service" and ending with the Statute of the Armed Forces. Therefore, it is important to understand that critical circumstances associated with constant risk are not grounds for commander's arbitrariness or irresponsibility.

In what situations do the military usually complain?

It often happens that the commander forces a subordinate to write a report about the refusal to carry out an order, which is either clearly criminal in nature or unfounded. The second case occurs significantly more often in practice. This happens when there have been mistakes on the part of the leadership during the organization of the execution of important combat tasks. If commanders seek to cover up these lapses at the expense of subordinates' lives and unjustifiably putting them at risk, resistance in such a situation is quite natural. But so that there are no negative consequences for the serviceman himself, it is important to have the contacts of a good lawyer at hand. Such people work in the team of the Prikhodko&Partners law firm.

If you write the mentioned report, then you will take responsibility for yourself, and it will be difficult to prove your rightness after the fact outside of the situation where the unreasonableness of the order seemed obvious.

What should be the specific actions of the military?

An effective solution in the described situations is the serviceman's appeal to the authorized bodies, one of which is the Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the field of defense. It can be a statement or a complaint. We will tell you in detail what is the difference between them, and how to correctly formulate the circumstances stated in the appeal, in order to convey the essence of the violation of your rights to the representatives of the authorized bodies as correctly and convincingly as possible.

You should not be silent or postpone the solution of such problems for the future, when it will be much more difficult for you to prove your right. Remember that no dangerous or stressful circumstances are grounds for violating your rights. Therefore, it is important to know the mechanisms of their protection and use the help of professional lawyers who can assist in this matter.