Administrative courts in Ukraine are annulling decisions on the review of disability status for prosecutors not due to the assessment of medical diagnoses, but because of serious procedural violations by the Scientific Research Institute of Medical and Social Disability Problems (NII).
Source: OBOZREVATEL
According to the publication, courts have found that expert commissions of the NII did not have proper legal grounds to conduct inspections. In particular, letters from the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) or NABU are not recognized as sufficient procedural documents to initiate a disability review.
Among the key reasons why the NII is losing cases in court are:
— lack of legal grounds to initiate inspections;
— decisions made without the participation of the person concerned (in absentia);
— violation of medical examination procedures;
— contradictions between new and previous expert conclusions.
Some plaintiffs claim that their cases were considered in absentia or in violation of procedure. One prosecutor, Oleksii Luhovyi, stated that the decision to review his status was made without his participation, which is why he appealed it.
According to journalists, in some cases the NII attempted to review even invalid documents or changed its own previous conclusions regarding health status.
Following lawsuits, the Khmelnytskyi District Administrative Court in many cases sided with prosecutors and reinstated their previous disability status. At the same time, the NII continues to appeal these decisions in higher courts.
Overall, according to the investigation, disability status reviews began after the corruption scandal involving the Medical and Social Expert Commissions (MSEC). During the audits, dozens of decisions regarding prosecutors were cancelled, but some are being appealed and reinstated due to procedural violations.
The review process is ongoing, and law enforcement agencies say they continue working to identify unjustified disability decisions.
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