Photo from UNIAN
Kyiv garrison military prosecutor's office is conducting pre-trial investigation into the defection of 1,372 servicemen of the SBU Security Service of Ukraine based on the data of the Unified Register of court decisions, according to legal news web portal at 1i.com.ua
In July-August this year, the court has considered applications of military prosecutors to detain several dozen Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) officers in the investigation launched in April 2014, after a large part of the SBU employees in Crimea failed to arrive in Kyiv upon the order of the SBU Central Directorate.
Among them were four colonels: SBU chief Crimea inspector, head of SBU Interdistrict Department in Yevpatoria, head of SBU special operational accounting center, and another colonel from an SBU unit in Sevastopol.
Former officers from an SBU counter-terrorism center in Sevastopol and Simferopol are reported to have also deserted.
The prosecutor's office pressed charges against them under Part 1 of Article 408 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The suspects face two-to-five-year prison terms.
Currently, the police are trying to establish the whereabouts of the suspects. Court has sanctioned arrest of the deserters.