Since the beginning of the war, over 900 Russian military personnel have filed claims against hospitals

Editorial “Layout” December 15, 2023 |

They are trying to get certificates of injury or prove that they can no longer fight

At least 922 Russian military personnel and their relatives filed lawsuits against military hospitals from March 2022 to December 2023, Vorstka found out after analyzing the bases of all garrison courts in Russia and annexed Crimea.

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Courts do not publish all of their decisions. “Layout” found 285 published judicial acts, all of them related to challenging the decision of the military medical commission. Some servicemen do not agree that doctors assessed their injury as minor and did not issue a certificate of injury - without this document, the military cannot receive monetary compensation from the state. Others believe they are too sick to continue fighting. Both the first and the second have minimal chances of winning.

Alexey Kuznetsov, mobilized from the Omsk region, lost the trial in September 2023. He was wounded during the battle and became partially deaf. In court, his representative said that Kuznetsov was unable to hear the orders of his commanders and therefore could no longer fight. She drew attention to the fact that the doctors at the hospital gave her husband two conflicting medical reports - one said that the mobilized man’s left ear could not hear sounds at a distance of half a meter. In another, both ears can hear spoken speech at a distance of two meters.

The judge was satisfied with the explanations of the military doctors. They said that they made two documents with different purposes. One certificate, in which the diagnosis is more serious, is needed so that the military man can receive an insurance payment for injury, the second, with a milder diagnosis, is needed for the military medical commission , which determines the degree of fitness for military service.

Of the 866 claims against hospitals that judges have already assessed, only 35 were satisfied . From published court decisions it is clear that the courts side with military personnel if they agree that military doctors unreasonably inflated the fitness category.

For example, Aydemir Mongush, mobilized from Khakassia, won the trial in August 2023, proving that military doctors gave him too high a fitness category. Mongush received a knee injury as a result of a fall - he was thrown back by the blast wave. The court agreed with the mobilized that he should be assigned a lower category than “B” .

Mass claims began to arrive in courts in August 2022. After mobilization, there were even more of them, and the peak occurred in the second half of 2023 . From June to December 2023, the Russian military filed almost 500 lawsuits against hospitals—more than during the year and a half of war.

Often, military personnel go to court during leave, which they receive after treatment in the hospital. However, they usually do not have time to take part in the trial - after their leave they are taken back to the front .

If a military man has hired a lawyer or drawn up a power of attorney for a close relative, the case is considered without him. Otherwise, the judges suspend the consideration of the case, citing the fact that the plaintiff is “ performing state duties” or “ is on a long business trip.”

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