Scandal with bullying and harassment of cadets at the Sahaidachnyi Army Academy: the case is under control of the Command and the Verkhovna Rada
Kyiv • UNN
The Command of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has decided to investigate cases of bullying and harassment of cadets at the Hetman Petro Sahaidachny National Army Academy after complaints from cadets and a temporary investigative commission.
The National Army Academy named after Hetman Petro Sahaidachny will be inspected for bullying and harassment of cadets. This is stated in a statement by the Command of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, UNN reports.
The Command of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has decided to check the state of affairs at the National Army Academy named after Hetman Petro Sahaidachnyi. The cases that have been made public by the Verkhovna Rada's provisional investigative commission will be checked for compliance with the real state of affairs.
Details
The Command promised that if the facts of bullying are confirmed, the necessary measures will be taken, and the responsible officials will be punished in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine.
The results of the inspection will be made public later.
At the same time, the Land Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine emphasized that discrediting servicemen in a war only plays into the hands of the enemy. And all issues related to the military are sensitive.
We recommend that officials, regardless of their status, take a responsible approach to communicating issues related to the performance of military duties. Especially when it comes to accusations against certain officials and teams. Emotionally colored accusations and attempts at populist misrepresentations are unacceptable.
Context
The day before, a story began to circulate on social media that the academy systematically harasses and beats up cadets.
Cadets of the Hetman P. Sahaidachny National Army Academy (NASA) filed a collective complaint with the Temporary Investigation Commission (TIC). In essence, the complaint concerned the granting of dismissals to cadets only if their parents or spouses came to pick them up. This was reported by MP Yulia Yatsyk, who is a member of the Temporary Investigation Commission of the Verkhovna Rada to investigate violations of the rights of servicemen.
To me, it is absurd that a 30-year-old officer is taken by his mother for a day off.
However, after the filing of this complaint, the harassment of the cadets for their active position only intensified. Moreover, they even tried to open a criminal case against one of the authors of the collective complaint.
The head of the course, A., started harassing cadet P. for his active position. During the morning formation of the course, the course commander A. warned cadet P. that he would be subject to an internal investigation. Not understanding the grounds for this, cadet P. asked for permission to ask a question, to which the head of the course A. said that "You are f**king with your questions!", and cadet P. replied "You are f**king with us too". After that, the cadet A. took cadet P. out of the line and reprimanded him "for talking in the line", and proceeded to use obscene language, public humiliation of the cadet and threats to those who would support him. As a result, cadet P. left the ranks. This was the basis for Mr. A. to initiate an internal investigation against Cadet P., which resulted in a severe reprimand, and the investigation materials were transferred to the SBI to initiate a criminal case of insubordination.
Having examined the materials of the investigation, the SBI refused to initiate a criminal case against cadet P. Instead, it pointed out that the actions of the head of the course A. did not comply with the requirements of the Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and sent a letter to the head of the NAVSU, which obliged the latter to conduct an official inspection of the head of the faculty T.
Having received a response from the SBI refuting the facts set out in the letter from the HCJ, the head of the PIC demanded from the HCJ all the materials of the internal inspection and anonymous survey of the cadets. The two volumes of the inspection contained a bunch of documents in which cadets complained about the use of physical coercion by A.'s supervisor, and also confirmed that cadets were granted dismissal only if their parents or spouses came to pick them up.
The members of the PIC, in turn, conducted a series of anonymous interviews with the Academy's cadets from different courses, who told about th
- a "company cash register" where cadets chip in for various needs (buying a printer, paper, detergents, etc.)
- cadets' dismissal is regulated manually (if you want to be dismissed, buy paper, or refill the cartridge, or...)
- there are cases of harassment, humiliation and bullying of cadets
- Lack of necessary medicines at the health center ("everything is treated with ibuprofen or paracetamol")
- In different groups, from 30% to 60% of cadets on welfare do not eat in the canteen for various reasons (mostly due to tasteless dishes and poor quality food).
Position of the Academy's management on the identified violations
The head of the faculty, T., explained to the TCC that the procedure for dismissing cadets in case of hand-to-hand transfer was established by an oral order of the head of the academy. However, P.P. Tkachuk, who was present in the room, looked surprised and said that he had not issued such an order and that it was a personal initiative of his subordinates.
The head of the course A was interrogated.
- admitted that he did use profanity in his communication with cadets, but is working on himself
- admitted that he forced the cadet to eat cigarettes in front of the entire company as an educational measure
Yatsyk noted that this case was recorded on video and was included in the investigation.
- denied using force against the cadet when he broke two of his fingers on him. He says he broke his fingers when a box fell on them, so it was self-inflicted.
- denied knocking out the tooth of a cadet of the tanker group, who has now transferred to another educational institution.
- called all the accusations of the cadets lies and slander.
After that, the head of the academy, P. Tkachuk, said that they reacted to this shameful behavior of their subordinates by announcing a reprimand to the head of the A-course.
Yatsyk emphasized that cadet P. received a reprimand + strict reprimand + case in the SBI for his active position and "talking in the ranks," and cadet A. received only a warning for beating and humiliating cadets, for swearing and manually managing dismissals.
Neither the head of the faculty, T., nor Associate Professor M., who negligently conducted an internal investigation, on the basis of which they tried to pin the crime on cadet P., nor the deputy for the MPS, Mr. B. - none of them were brought to justice!!!
She also emphasized that cadets are people who enrolled during the war in Ukraine, who consciously linked their lives to the defense of the state, and they need to be motivated, educated, and taken care of. Otherwise, the army will be demotivated.
