On Thursday, August 31, the head of the Servant of the People faction, David Arakhamia, on the air of the United News telethon, said that Ukrainians liable for military service who left Ukraine with fake certificates of unfitness for service could be extradited home. As expected, this news already on the morning of September 1 sparked discussion on social networks. Some followers write that Arakhamia said this for the sake of PR and it is impossible to do it. Others consider such a step to be realistic. So, is it possible to organize extradition for draft dodgers located abroad?
First there was the word
It all started with the words of President Vladimir Zelensky. On Wednesday, August 30, he said that at a meeting of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine they decided to conduct a comprehensive review of the validity of the decisions of military medical commissions on disability and unfitness for military service.
All cases where decisions were groundless and illegal should be dealt with by law enforcement officers, the president said.
The next evening, David Arakhamia began commenting on Zelensky’s words on the “Unified News” telethon. He stated that Ukrainians liable for military service who left their homeland on forged certificates of unfitness for service could be extradited home. To do this, Ukraine can apply to other countries with a request for extradition.
According to the people's deputy, first a preliminary analysis will be carried out, which will take several months. If someone corrupted an official, then according to the law, both parties are responsible. Law enforcement will work to legalize evidence and bring charges.
“What will happen to the people who did this? They will be held accountable under the laws for giving a bribe, for falsifying documents, for evading mobilization,” Arakhamia explained.
Arakhamia’s calculation is based on the fact that in Ukraine the direction of international legal assistance has now increased, and in fact, in any country in the world, law enforcement agencies can come and request the extradition of such people, and bring them to Ukraine so that they bear proper responsibility.
Extradition (not) possible
Arakhamia's statement sparked active discussion of this topic.
A logical question arose: how to prove the corresponding crime without concrete evidence of the presence of a corruption component in the relevant actions. It should be noted here that often, even with video and photographic recordings, participants in such schemes manage to evade responsibility. But how to prove the presence of a bribe if the piece of paper was received a year or a year and a half ago?
Actually, there is also a reverse element to this problem - without a person who is physically in Ukraine, it is impossible to prove the untruthfulness of this diagnosis, notes SBU Reserve Major General Viktor Yagun.
“We have no way to bring these people back. Because our idea of not releasing people due to martial law is not a crime abroad. Secondly, in order to prove that the military medical commissions were carried out falsely and the documents were forged, a person is needed to go through the medical examination again. The person is not physically in Ukraine,” says Viktor Yagun, “that is, this is PR, no one knows for what reason. Another thing is that it is clear that no one will carry out extradition, especially for such things. It is impossible to look abroad for a person who has not committed a crime, has not been documented, has not been investigated and has not received a court decision.”
As an example, Yagun cites the case of ex-SBU general Andrei Naumov. “For the second year now, Ukraine has been trying to extradite Naumov from a Serbian prison. It is very necessary for him to be brought here so that he can tell the truth about what happened in the Security Service on the eve of the war. But we cannot do this, because Serbia takes a very long time to consider our appeals. And here, imagine, someone abroad will look for citizens who have gone abroad - well, they left and left. This is a statement that has no legal motivation,” concluded Viktor Yagun.
Political scientist Evgeniy Magda commented on David Arakhamia’s statement in one sentence: “This is the case when it is better to DJ silently than to speak.” The hint about the past entertainment of the people's deputy, who took on the pseudo DJ David Braun, is more than transparent.
Lawyer of the Kharkov human rights group Anna Ovdienko said in a comment that the extradition of those liable for military service who left Ukraine on fake certificates of unfitness for service is possible, but the process will not be quick.
“Extradition occurs only within the framework of criminal proceedings,” says the lawyer. “Both parties bear responsibility for corruption: those who gave bribes and those who took them. Criminal proceedings will first be opened against those who illegally issued certificates, if any are identified. Then lists of persons who were given fictitious certificates of unfitness for military service in exchange for a bribe will be compiled. Then, criminal proceedings in absentia are opened against these persons, if they left Ukraine, and law enforcement agencies will be able to demand the extradition of these people.”
According to the lawyer, extradition from countries that are our partners can be done very quickly.
Andrey Tkachuk, a lawyer for monitoring VACC cases of the Transparency International Ukraine movement, draws attention to the fact that Ukraine has now mutually agreed on extradition with Azerbaijan, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland and many other states.
“Extradition is also impossible from those countries that are obviously unfriendly to us (Russia, Belarus, North Korea or Iran) or are not recognized by us (Kosovo, Transnistria, etc.),” the lawyer noted.
At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that international treaties between Ukraine and partner states prohibit the extradition of convicts, for example, for political reasons or in case of security risks.
The nuance with “security risks”, taking into account the war in Ukraine, sounds quite ambiguous; accordingly, the return of male Ukrainians is a big question.
