The SSU in Kharkiv has uncovered a scheme involving fictitious guardianship to evade conscription
The Security Service of Ukraine has announced that it has dismantled a scheme in Kharkiv designed to evade mobilisation by arranging fictitious sole guardianship of minor children.
According to the investigation, those liable for military service were granted the status of parents who were allegedly raising children on their own. They then submitted documents to local recruitment centres to obtain a deferment from conscription.
Law enforcement officers established that the organiser of the scheme was a local lawyer. She involved two subordinates in the illegal activity: an assistant to a judge at one of Kharkiv’s district courts, and the head of the district department for children’s affairs at Kharkiv City Council.
The investigation believes that the group’s members produced forged documents claiming that the wife of a conscript was allegedly not involved in raising the child and had withdrawn from caring for them.
On the basis of these findings, the lawyer prepared court applications to terminate the mothers’ parental rights. This allowed the husband to be registered as the child’s sole guardian.
According to the SSU the court employee facilitated the hearing of these cases and the passing of the required rulings.
During searches of the suspects’ homes, vehicles and workplaces, law enforcement officers seized mobile phones and draft notes containing evidence of the scheme’s operation.
Four women involved in the case have been notified of charges under articles relating to the organisation of obstruction of the lawful activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the organisation of abuse of influence, committed by an organised group.
The penalties under the charges carry a maximum sentence of eight years’ imprisonment. The investigation is ongoing.
