“They will be overwhelmed even more”: Ukrainian courts are already overloaded with citizens’ complaints about draft notices

Ukrainian courts are already overloaded with complaints from citizens about draft notices and will be even more overwhelmed when the mass distribution of new remote notices begins.

This statement was made by lawyer, former Member of Parliament, and current Kyiv City Council deputy Leonid Yemets.

“There is no established legal practice. There will be problems because the way officials apply the law is, to put it mildly, far from ideal. How our courts and the European Court of Human Rights will interpret them will be shown by future practice,” Yemets said.

As an example of the issues that courts might face, he mentioned the “Reserve+” app.

“What is ‘Reserve+’? It’s not an electronic account for those liable for military service. How does it fit in? It’s regulated by acts of the Cabinet of Ministers, but that’s not the law,” Yemets stated.

Earlier, many court cases in Ukraine had already been held regarding citizens’ lawsuits against territorial recruitment centers. For example, in the summer, a court ruled that recruitment centers cannot demand documents from a citizen that are not provided for by law. The court’s decision stated that since the legislation does not provide for the issuance of civil registry office documents about other adult able-bodied relatives, the recruitment center cannot demand such a document.

Additionally, Member of Parliament Oleksandr Fedienko predicted that the massive fines imposed by recruitment centers would be widely challenged in courts since this would be cheaper than paying the fines themselves.