Fighting on two fronts: How a former Maidan case prosecutor is battling bureaucracy in Ukraine's army

His name usually comes up whenever people talk about the Maidan investigations. Serhiy Horbatiuk is often asked for professional comment as the former head of the investigation. For the fifth year in a row, he has been appealing his dismissal from the Prosecutor General's Office.

He spent his entire professional life as a prosecutor. However, at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, he says he saw no other option but to join the army.

The call sign "Horby" that Serhiy initially took on never stuck. The brigade recognized him, and since then, "Prosecutor" has stuck.

Hromadske found out where and who the former chief special prosecutor is now serving; how he is still suing for reinstatement; whether there are many of his colleagues at the front; what is "not going to go to his head" in the army; what problems he has with mobilization; and why his confrontation with the army bureaucracy is akin to fighting windmills.

Beating the bushes trying to get mobilized

On February 24, 2022, 48-year-old Horbatiuk could not sit idly by. He went to the Darnytsia military registration and enlistment office, where he was registered as a reserve officer with a legal military accounting specialty. At that time, they just shook their heads at him: "We don't really need you now. We will call you back." And that was it.

"I went home and waited until the next morning. I called them myself and said: ‘I was there yesterday, but you didn't call me’. Then they answered me more cheerfully: ‘Come on over’. I stood in line for a while, and at the end of the day it was decided that I was being sent to a newly created unit," recalls Horbatiuk.

At that time, the 23rd separate rifle battalion was just being formed. There were not enough officers there, so the former prosecutor was with the riflemen for the first few days. Then he became an accountant of the second category, and for some time he was the head of the food service. Until they finally decided on his position.

"On the second day, they recognized me as a prosecutor, and then they brought me to the commander and said: ‘We have to start from scratch – a lot of paperwork, and we need help with this’. In fact, no one knew anything about this military bureaucracy. All these papers, orders, regulations, personnel records... I had to proofread and study everything."

He is still with the battalion today, now as a senior staff assistant for personnel and drill, as well as the unit's acting lawyer. Although Horbatyuk works at the headquarters, his unit has been on the Lyman axis, one of the hottest spots on the frontline, since last year.

"The case has been in the courts for five years: it's a travesty"

Serhiy Horbatiuk, who had headed the Prosecutor General's Office's Special Investigations Department since 2014, was fired in 2019 under the pretext of "reorganizing" the department.

Prosecutors were supposed to undergo re-certification, but Horbatiuk opposed the procedure: he saw it as a violation of the law and the Constitution. He filed a different application, but his suggestions were not accepted: He was not allowed to take part in the certification process.

The dismissal order was signed by then-Prosecutor General Rouslan Riaboshapka. Horbatiuk called the decision illegal and went to court. The case dragged on for years.

I am still suing. It's a kind of travesty with signs of revenge: the case for reinstatement should be considered within a month, and it's already been five years.Serhiy Horbatiuk, serviceman and ex-prosecutor

"There were many violations in the trial, but the bottom line is that it was delayed. The lowest court considered the case for a year and dismissed it. The appeal court also refused without any grounds.

Then the Supreme Court also held the case for a year, but nevertheless overturned the decision and sent it for a new trial. Although they have also pulled a fast one. In order not to make me good and not to take responsibility for the illegal decision, they simply started everything from scratch," explains the former special prosecutor.

Serhiy Horbatiuk realized that he was inconvenient for his superiors. He says he was ready to be fired because he knew that he could not keep silent about the management's offenses. Now he only regrets that he did not have time to do much. However, later he allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief: he said he could finally rest. During his time at the prosecutor's office, he had 471 days of unused vacation.

"Sometimes they write such nonsense that you struggle to believe it"

There are few prosecutors like him – volunteers. At least in his experience. He can count his colleagues on the front line on one hand:

"The only ones that spring to mind are prosecutors from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office: Maksym Hryshchuk and his colleagues. And two more of my colleagues who once worked with me at the Prosecutor General's Office. However, Yaroslav Dukh has already resigned because he was elected to the High Qualification Commission of Judges," adds Horbatiuk.

At the same time, he is convinced that not all prosecutors and other law enforcement officers need to be reserved by the state. During the war, these bodies should function, but their structure should be optimized, Horbatiuk argues.

"We have everything done in a half-assed way. There are a lot of completely artificial entities. For example, in the same Prosecutor General's Office, there is a department for supporting the activities of management. I don't know how it is now, but 80 people used to work there.

And these patronage services that have been created in all ministries? I don't understand this at all. I mean, if we are talking about mobilization, those who hold such formal positions could go to serve."

Although he admits that some of them will be of little use in the army.

"In cases of unauthorized departure from the unit or desertion, the State Bureau of Investigation often cannot even register a criminal proceeding. There is no response for half a year, a year.

Sometimes it issues such nonsense that you can't make sense of... And if you disagree, they advise going to court. When your unit is on the front line, but they recommend you perform their functions instead of them. Well, it's like a travesty. So you start to wonder why such people are even needed in law enforcement agencies," he says.

"Bureaucracy devours everything"

When asked about the problems in the army that he has faced and is facing during his service, Horbatiuk sighs: "There are many problems."

He even prepared a 15-page list with suggestions for solving typical problems. He sent it to the Defense Ministry. They told him that the document would be processed. However, the results and whether they plan to implement the proposals are still unknown.

Bureaucracy devours everything. The middle management is absolutely reluctant to take any initiative because of this. The main function in the army is that you are put there to carry out instructions from above. That way you have a better chance of staying in office.Serhiy Horbatiuk, serviceman and ex-prosecutor

Keeping a bunch of logbooks, lack of communication between the "bottom and the top," uncoordinated recruitment, and a long appointment procedure are just some of the problems identified by the military lawyer. He cites the following arguments.

• Lack of feedback

"We have announced the movement towards NATO standards, but instead, we have virtually no communication from the bottom to the top about problems, combat missions, and improvements. There are only requirements to provide information in the established forms. They are already excessive and are constantly growing. The higher command does not even provide answers to the ‘grassroots’ units. They only send instructions from above."

• Sabotage of recruitment

"During the publicized recruitment, we have already lost three mobilized people who were found through online job search platforms. Although we sent a letter to the military commissariat, in the end, our ‘recruits’ were assigned to completely different units from the training centers: this is the General Staff's ‘order’. We tried to find out how to get them back. I explained that something needed to be changed. And I was told by respected military officials: ‘You will not change anything’."

Look: we find people, and you kill their desire to serve. They will now tell everyone they know not to trust the recruiters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.Serhiy Horbatiuk, serviceman and ex-prosecutor

• Red tape in appointments

"According to the current legislation, a unit commander has no authority to appoint, transfer or dismiss subordinates. This can only be done by a senior officer – from the brigade and above, and in the case of officers, only by the higher command.

For battalions, this is an even longer procedure as the documents go through two levels. Sometimes the appointment is delayed for several months. I'm not even talking about the appropriateness of some appointments or transfers when they are made without any approval from unit commanders. Especially those that are already understaffed on the front line."

• Uncertain remuneration

"There is complete chaos with legal certainty and clarity of the rules governing the military's financial support. The existing law, the Cabinet of Ministers' resolution, and the Defense Ministry's order contradict each other. That's why the Defense Ministry sends letters of explanation. Even a lawyer with experience will not understand how much should be paid to whom in accordance with these regulations.

The system of calculating the additional remuneration of 100,000 hryvnias ($2,577) for those who perform combat missions on the front line is unreasonably complicated. It seems that the military and political leadership is embarrassed to say directly and clearly that there is not enough money for everyone. Clear legislative criteria for payments should be developed, depending on the combat missions and the place of their performance."

• Confusion with property write-off

"It's a well-known problem: it takes a huge amount of time for various services to write off property. Recently, changes have been made to the legislation, but the situation has not changed. The number of documents has decreased by one or two. Instead of thinking about fulfilling their missions, services and combat units are busy compiling a pile of papers to write off destroyed property. There should definitely be control, but today it is a waste of time and effort."

According to Serhiy Horbatiuk, it is necessary, in particular:

• To reduce the centralization of decision-making;
• To establish communication with the "grassroots";
• To create a database of positive experience of brigades;
• To minimize the number of paper records;
• To radically simplify the procedure for writing off property;
• To reform law enforcement agencies and courts to investigate war crimes.

Horbatiuk appreciates that as a current serviceman, he may be subject to complaints for violating the procedure for solving problems in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Nevertheless, he is convinced that it is worth talking about problematic issues that are not being addressed systematically.

The importance of the problems outweighs the possible negative consequences of publicity for me personally.Serhiy Horbatyuk, serviceman and ex-prosecutor

Maidan cases: will there be no real sentences for decades?

Finally, we ask Serhiy about his assessment of the further investigation of the Maidan cases, which were recently reported on the tenth anniversary of the tragic events by the Prosecutor General's Office: there are already 13 guilty verdicts, 18 convicted, and the first sentence to life imprisonment.

"There is progress, and thank God that the investigation is not stopping," says the former head of the Maidan investigation.

He adds: "The President, the Prosecutor General, the SBI can report: ‘The cases are moving forward’. The only question is that there is practically no real punishment – imprisonment for serious crimes. And in most cases, there will be none: the way the situation is developing in multi-episode cases and beyond, we will not see these verdicts for decades."

The absence of real sentences means that they can be formally passed, but in fact the convicts do not serve their sentences, explains Horbatiuk.

For example, in the case of the shootings on Instytutska Street, the court did indeed convict five former Berkut riot police officers. But later, one was acquitted, the other was sentenced to a sentence equal to the time served in a pre-trial detention center, and the other three were convicted in absentia.

"The fastest case was considered for seven years before the verdict. There were 48 dead and 85 wounded. [Viktor] Yanukovych and the others are charged with a total of more than 400 casualties, which is three times as many. According to simple arithmetic, we need to multiply 7 by 3. This is 21 years. Will there be any benefit from that verdict in 21 years?"

As the Prosecutor General's Office also recognized, the statute of limitations has already expired in almost 70 Maidan cases.

“The DAI traffic policemen who forged the reports were released from responsibility five years ago. Now, in most cases where there were no murders, but, say, beatings, the statute of limitations of 10 years has also expired. No one will be held accountable for anything."