The Kovel City District Court has sentenced 54-year-old city council member Yuriy Rudy, who worked part-time as an endoscopist at a local medical association. He was found guilty of illegally transporting a man abroad during martial law, using forged documents, and unauthorized actions with information.
The court found that in March 2023, Yuriy Rud, together with two accomplices, organized the departure of a 48-year-old resident of Luhansk Oblast from Ukraine. The deputy used his official position to help the man avoid mobilization: he issued false medical documents stating that he had diseases. Based on these documents, the military medical commission declared him unfit for military service.
For this “service,” the accomplices demanded $3,000. After receiving part of this amount, all participants in the scheme were detained.
In court, Yuriy Rud admitted to forging the medical certificate, but denied that he intended to help the evader leave the country illegally. According to him, he was approached by an acquaintance from Luhansk who was afraid of undergoing an endoscopy, so he issued the certificate without actually conducting the examination. Rud insisted that he did not take money for this certificate.
Judge Andriy Chaly found Rudy guilty under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and sentenced him to 7 years in prison with confiscation of all property. He was also banned from practicing medicine for two years. The verdict can be appealed.
Yuriy Rud has worked at the Kovel medical institution since 1996. He was first elected to the city council in 2015, and in 2020 he was re-elected as a deputy from the Batkivshchyna party.
