Financial payments to servicemen of 501st Marine battalion and their families are resumed due to SBI investigation (VIDEO)
SBI investigators issued a decision to close the proceedings against 277 servicemen of the 501st Separate Marine Battalion of the Ukrainian Navy on suspicion of desertion. Following this, the military unit resumed payment of their salaries in accordance with the law.
The investigation established that the soldiers ended up in captivity due to the betrayal of one of their commanders. So now, their payments are being resumed. It is confirmed by corresponding order of the unit commander. According to the document, the families of the soldiers will receive the full amount of their salaries for the time they were in captivity.
We remind you that since the end of February 2022, the battalion's soldiers have been defending Mariupol. In April of the same year, russian propagandists spread information that the marines of the 501st Battalion had allegedly surrendered voluntarily in the besieged city of Mariupol.
However, SBI agens have discovered that in reality, the head of the logistics service of the 501st Battalion had betrayed his oath and sided with the enemy. He colluded with the russians and persuaded the battalion commander to surrender.
As a result, the battalion's soldiers were ordered to be redeployed, but in reality they were transferred to the 'donetsk people's republic'. The soldiers were deliberately misled, so they did not realise the unlawful nature of the order to surrender.
In May 2023, the SBI initiated a pre-trial investigation against the battalion's servicemen. That same month, the SBI ruled to close the proceedings against the captured servicemen of the 501st Brigade. This decision gave the authorised bodies grounds to restore the violated rights of the captured marines to payments to their relatives.
The Chief of the Logistics Service of the 501st Separate Logistics Unit of the Ukrainian Navy was served a notice of suspicion of high treason (Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The sanction of the article provides for life imprisonment.
The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceedings is ongoing, the full range of persons who may be involved in the crime is being established.
