‘The number of people who have received disabilities is impressive”: Prosecutor General announces first results of official investigation
Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andriy Kostin announced that the large-scale official investigation covers not only the prosecutors of the Khmelnytskyi region, but also the entire prosecutor’s office system at all levels, including the Prosecutor General’s Office. This investigation is key to cleaning up and reforming the entire system. That’s what he’s about reported in the “Facts of the Week” program.
According to Kostin, at the moment it has been established that 61 prosecutors in the Khmelnytsky region have the status of disabled. This applies to both the regional prosecutor’s office and the district prosecutor’s offices of the region. It is important to note that 80% of them (50 people) were disabled even before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The Prosecutor General emphasized that it is necessary to find out the circumstances under which these prosecutors received disability, because such a number of cases raises suspicions. He promised that the public will be informed about all stages of this investigation and its results.
“I believe that all prosecutors about whom there are doubts should voluntarily undergo a re-examination. So far, this has not been done within the framework of criminal proceedings. I also initiated the creation of a working group, which will include international experts. They will help to comprehensively assess the situation and develop decision to prevent similar abuses in the future”, – said Kostin.
In addition, the Prosecutor General expressed his support for the initiative of the Ministry of Health regarding the comprehensive reform of the medical and social examination system (MSEK). He emphasized that it is important to ensure fairness in the provision of benefits to persons with disabilities, regardless of their professional activity.
“We are ready to join this initiative. It may be necessary to involve the whole of government, as well as parliament. It is very important to ensure fairness, particularly in determining the benefits that people receive because of a disability – regardless of where that person works, and does it work at all”, – said Kostin.
“The number of men who became disabled during martial law is really impressive”, – added the Prosecutor General.
On October 16, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced the beginning of an official investigation into the receipt of disability by 50 prosecutors of the Khmelnytskyi Regional Prosecutor’s Office. Already on October 17, it was announced that Oleksiy Oliynyk was dismissed from the post of head of the Khmelnytskyi regional prosecutor’s office against the background of this investigation.
