SWAT: renunciation

The Russian Defense Ministry has officially confirmed that detainees in May in the Luhansk region, “the men of the GRU” Alexander Alexandrov and Yevgeni Yerofeyev arrived in Donbass, has retired from the Russian Army. This response from the Russian Defense Ministry received a human rights activist and member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Standing Commission of the HRC on civil-military relations, the director of the Judicial Group “Citizen. The army. Right”, a member of the Moscow Helsinki Group Sergey Krivenko, sent the request in June .

Ukrainian authorities accuse Alexander and Yerofeyev Article about participation in terrorist activities, 22 May a court in Kiev, arrested them for two months.

After the detention of Alexandrov and Yerofeyev said that military personnel are operating, but the Russian Defense Ministry, these data refute . The ministry pointed out that “at the time of his arrest,” Alexandrov and Yerofeyev has retired from the Armed Forces. After that, the detainees said they were not dismissed from the Armed Forces series.

In mid-June, Alexandrov said that in Ukraine now, he would like to be in the status of prisoner of war, not a terrorist or a mercenary. “Still following orders”, – he said.

The detainee said he was not against to file a lawsuit against the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. “I do not think that will be working to prove that I am a serviceman can send queries to get proof.”, – he said.

Subsequently, the mother Alexandrova called on  the Russian authorities not to leave her son. In addition, she said that he had never spoken to resign from the army.

Earlier, lawyer Alexander and Yerofeyev Oksana Sokolovsky informed  the media that “the protection of works of Russian commandos exchange for captured Ukrainian soldiers under the Declaration of Helsinki”.

To learn how to appeal to the Ministry of Defense and its rejection of Alexander and Yerofeyev affect their fate, says human rights activist Sergei Krivenko rossiyssky:

– Understand their status at the time of arrest, and was a major issue for the Ministry of Defense. Because when in May Yerofeyev Alexander and detained on the territory of Ukraine, when they had no documents, they are actually self-titled, and there is still no confirmation that they named Alexander and Yerofeyev. Especially [no evidence] that they were servicemen of the Russian army, they claimed. As far as I know, the lawyers, who were provided by the Ukrainian side in the framework of the case against them, the case of terrorism, even in late May sent a request to the Russian consulate in Kiev with the request to confirm that it is the citizens of Russia, it is the military, they say, and it was named after Alexander and Yerofeyev. And since then, as far as I know, there is no response. What we got yesterday, – it is actually the first official response to the Defense Ministry, it stated that they are not soldiers. That is, they were soldiers, but were fired, and the whole plot with Ukraine took place after they were dismissed from the armed forces. Despite the fact that Alexander Yerofeyev and say the opposite.

– Why do defenders Yerofeyev Alexander and now it is important to prove that they were in the Ukraine as the military, and not as “volunteers”? How will this affect their charges and possible terms of punishment at all on their future?

– This, of course, is important for determining protection strategies. Because if it is just the citizens of Russia, they are criminals by national legislation and by the Ukrainian legislation. The article “Terrorism” is pretty tough in Ukraine, there on her face almost life imprisonment. If it is the military, there is a possibility to reclassify charge on espionage, and terms are considerably lower, and then they can be exchanged at all, that is their fate will develop much better if I may say so.

– You from the Ministry of Defense sent out any orders or copies of their dismissal orders, even some documents?

– No. Just out of the army firing procedure is not simple. It really is accompanied by a fairly large number of papers. I need an order from a superior officer, commander of the army or the commander of the military unit of resignation. Alexandrov and Yerofeyev stated that the contract they had just begun and continues, they did not terminate. Therefore, if the Defense Ministry cancels the contract with the military, it also can be done just like that, for that we need some kind of reason. For example, a soldier violates discipline is not to build in part, still something, and these facts must be recorded and executed in accordance with the law. Must be orders, administrative penalties and so on. It is a whole package of documents, and, unfortunately, we have the experience, we know that the military command sometimes resorted to falsification. We have recently been the case in court, where he addressed the issue of dismissal of a contractor, and was able to have it restored by the court, and the court was proved that part of the command, where he served, in fact falsified several of these here orders ad penalties to dismiss such soldier. Practice this, unfortunately, there are Russian military.

– How will the protection of Alexandrov and Yerofeyev after your treatment to the Ministry of Defense and response?

– I’m not the only person who carries out their protection. They are now engaged in the protection of Ukrainian lawyers. There are several Russian lawyers who want to join the case. It’s not easy, but nevertheless, probably, may occur. The whole community, which will help, protect, and to think through the defense strategy of Alexander and Erofeev. Its main goal – to minimize the consequences for them all. If we manage to negotiate and exchange them – this is one option. If you can not, you will have to go to court to challenge all of the Defense Ministry orders for dismissal. And it is quite possible, this practice is, – said Sergey Krivenko.

Another May 20 the head of the “Russian Union of Committees of Soldiers’ Mothers”, a member of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense, Valentina Melnikova addresseda request to the Chief Military Prosecutor Sergeyu Fridinskomu Russia with a request to clarify the status of one of the detained Russians in Ukraine Aleksandra Aleksandrova. With such a request he turned himself in Soldiers’ Mothers Committees Union. The request “Soldiers’ Mothers Committees Union” asked the military prosecutor to answer a few questions: “In what order the soldier was in the Ukraine?”, “Under what circumstances, how Sergeant Alexander was able to pass the state border?”, “What steps are being taken by the military prosecutor for soldier returning? ” and “Does the Foreign Ministry participates in the return of the territory of the Russian Alexandrov?”. The answer from the Prosecutor’s Office, according to Melnikova, came in early July:

– We have received quite a terrible answer, we have such a response from the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office has not been since the Soviet era. Is written verbatim: “It is established that Alexander is not the military and its actions abroad were out of his life.” Who installed as determined whether the check to which military unit he served, he was fired – what number, how the order of, on whose initiative – all we are usually written in response to our appeals, it was nothing. It has been established and all. We will surely turn again to the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office with the requirement to explain how it’s all set. I do not exclude that now, when we called the mother Alexandrov, perhaps, we will sue. Main Military Prosecutor’s Office has no right to make such meaningless answers, – says Valentina Melnikova.

Earlier the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic Igor Carpenter, commenting on the arrest of Alexander and Yerofeyev, called them “fighters of the militia LNR”. However, the SBU reported that prisoners were captured by two officers of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

After the detention of Alexander and Yerofeyev, Russian President Vladimir Putin, which denies the existence of the Russian military in Ukraine, made changes to the list of information classified as state secret, by 30 November 1995. Paragraph about secrecy personnel losses during the war are now supplemented by the words “as well as in peacetime, during special operations.”

Sourse, 22/07/2015