Broken arm, stun gun and gas: a Territorial Recruitment Center official will be tried for attacking a 60-year-old fisherman

Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation have completed the pre-trial investigation concerning the head of a group of one of the departments of the Kovel District Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center, who is accused of injuring a 60-year-old man during mobilization activities. The indictment has already been sent to court. This was reported on 27 May 2026 by the DBR.

According to the investigation, the incident occurred on 20 March in the settlement of Zabolottia, Kovel district in Volyn. Three employees of the TRC approached a local resident who was fishing at that moment. The DBR emphasizes: the man was no longer subject to conscription due to his age, yet force was used against him anyway.

As the investigation established, during the attempted detention the man’s arm was twisted behind his back. As a result, he sustained a fracture of a bone with displacement. After that, one of the servicemen, according to the bureau, used a stun gun and sprayed the man with a pepper spray canister. This caused chemical burns to his eyes. In addition, according to the investigation, the TRC employees damaged the wheels of the victim’s car so that he could not drive away. As a result of the incident the man suffered injuries of moderate severity.

The head of the group will be tried under Part 1 of Article 122 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – intentional bodily injury of moderate severity. The article’s sanction provides for up to three years of imprisonment. Materials concerning the other servicemen were separated into a separate proceeding; that investigation is still ongoing.

The DBR additionally emphasized that responding to cases of inhumane treatment is one of the bureau’s priorities, especially when it concerns excessive use of force during mobilization activities. For society such cases are of fundamental importance, because mobilization during wartime must not turn into uncontrolled violence against people, especially those who by age are no longer subject to conscription.

Reminder: earlier we wrote:

• Stun gun, beatings and death: two TRC servicemen to stand trial
• A veteran with a disability reported being beaten by TRC employees in Lutsk
• 30 complaints of beatings: an officer at the Korabelny District Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center has been notified of suspicion
• Korabelny TRC — at the center of a scandal: suspected of brutally beating a Mykolaiv resident
• Another death at the TRC: a man was found dead in the restroom after being brought in for data clarification