Partners of company Illya Kostin and Oleksii Bezhevets participated in a joint roundtable UBA and Charity Foundation "Circle", dedicated to the current issues of legal aid for participants of ATO

On December, 15, 2014, Kyiv, indoors "LigaBusinessInform" was a joint roundtable Ukrainian Bar Association and Charity Foundation "Circle", dedicated to the current issues of legal aid for participants of ATO.

"The round table aims to draw attention of lawyers and society to the problems of the soldiers, who are in the area of anti-terrorism operations and to colleagues for involving in providing legal assistance to fellow citizens" - these words were addressed to colleagues by Oleksii Bezhevets, Director of the Foundation 'Circle ".

Within the frames of activity of Ukraine Bar Association the project "Legal aid for participants of ATO" is provided, which now has joined more than 80 lawyers all over the country. This project was created to provide free legal assistance for military servant and volunteers involved in ATO. The attorney Roman Tytykalo, who is the project coordinator, told about it.

Roman Tytykalo specified the main issues that currently important for soldiers after returning from the zone of ATO. Among these issues one of the most essential is a necessity to obtain the status of combatant, what turns out to have quite a serious problem. The question is not just about bureaucratic procedures, but also that the responsible authorities rather reluctant to give the status of combatants, including for the wounded soldiers. It was also noted by lawyer Denis Hordeyev, who drew attention to the vulnerability against the law of volunteers, who almost cannot receive such status by themselves.

Second largest number of cases takes social and labor issues: compensation, opportunities to improve their living conditions, to preserve their jobs and the problems concerned illegal dismissal. There are also more than enough cases involving disability: very difficult to prove that the injury was received with the military operations. A lawyer Denis Hordeyev also faced with such a problem at personal example.

"At this moment, about 50% of my time is occupied by cases concerning legal assistance to participants of ATO. And the number of these cases will be significantly enhanced. And neither society nor law-enforcement authorities nor soldiers themselves are not ready to solve these problems effectively and in a short time "- the lawyer Illya Kostin.

Another category of cases, which should not go unspoken - is the question of criminal responsibility soldiers, who can be held accountable as on charges of desertion and suspected of committing crimes, and after the return - of aggressive behavior in society.

This aspect exposes the next layer of work associated with providing psychological help after soldiers return to civilian life. This aspect was special emphasized by an independent business consultant, volunteer of CF "Circle" Irina Nikitina.

"War is a trauma for everyone. Therefore, each soldier needs not only legal advice, but also psychological. In our society, unfortunately, it is not customary to resort to a psychologist, but it is necessary"- she said. Also, expert advised lawyers do not forget about themrself, "constantly being in contact with people, who have high emotional background, we must take care about own condition and protect against professional burnout." For this purpose, said Irina Nikitina, within activity of the CF "Circle" there are free weekly advice to lawyers.

Source: http://uba.ua/