Missing persons: how and where to look for a military person with whom you have lost contact

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On March 13, 2022, relatives lost contact with military officer Badri Lolashvili. For almost two months, the family hoped for the best and searched for him in Russian captivity. But the man’s body was found in a trench in the forest near the village of Moschun in the Kyiv region, where he took the last battle. After the death of his brother, Pavlo Lolashvili unwittingly became an expert in searching for missing persons. Together with like-minded people, he is working on the creation of a single automated database, which will contain the names of everyone with whom contact has been lost. He shared with “UP.Zhyttia” his experience, how the system should work and what to do now if your loved one has disappeared. “Badri was not among the living, and no one saw him dead.” Before the full-scale war, Badri Lolashvili was the director of the Education Agency of the city of Kyiv. Under his leadership, the company created programs for studying physics and chemistry in virtual and augmented reality. He had a family – a young son and a wife. When the full-scale war began, Badri took his family to a safe place and joined the 72nd OMBr. Black Zaporozhets, in which he served in 2014-2015. But on March 13, the man stopped communicating. At that time, fierce battles were taking place in Moschun. So the military was ordered to retreat. Badri was not among those who left the battlefield. Therefore, the relatives were informed: there is a high probability that he died. At the same time, none of the siblings saw Badri wounded or dead. Therefore, the brother, mother and wife hoped that the man was alive and in captivity. They made every effort to find him. Badri Lolashvili “At the time, I was working in the law enforcement agencies (now – adviser to the head of the Chernihiv OVA on security issues – author). I really wanted to go to the place where the fighting took place, to see everything with my own eyes, to look for his belongings, to talk with local people . I hoped that maybe someone had seen something. But our positions in Moschun were then occupied by the Russians. That’s why it was impossible to reach them,” says Pavlo Lolashvili. At first, relatives called the hospital, where the wounded were brought. They spoke with their brothers who managed to survive. But nobody knew anything. The next day, Pavlo remembered that before leaving for the front line, Badri had purchased a new starting package. Having dialed the phone number, the man heard beeps in response. In the end, he managed to find his brother’s bag in the back room of one of the hospitals among the belongings of other soldiers. It turned out that Badri left her on the bus in Pushcha Voditsa. She was brought along with the belongings of other defenders by the military, who were taking away the bodies. Not finding Badri among the wounded and dead, the family began searching for him among the captives. It took almost two months, a lot of effort, nerves and tears. But unfortunately, the miracle did not happen. Badri Lolashvili’s body was found buried in a trench on May 4, when our military was working in that area after the liberation of northern Ukraine. There, in the middle of the forest, near the trench, there was a bottle with a note: “Here lie 2 Ukrainian fighters.” Badri was one of them. Badri Lolashvili’s body was found buried in a trench. It will take years to create a single automated base. Several months have passed since the funeral. Pavlo and his mother Larisa founded a charitable foundation named after Badri Lolashvili. Now he is engaged in arranging a memorial complex in the Moshtun forest, where fierce battles for Kyiv took place. And the families who lost their relatives and loved ones in Moschun are rallying around him. Pavlo, together with other specialists and relatives of those who disappeared, organized and created a working group. She is working with People’s Deputy Anatoly Ostapenko to improve the legislation and make the procedure for searching for missing persons faster and more organized. For this, you need to create at least a single database. “Ukraine has a law “On the legal status of persons who have gone missing under special circumstances”. It was adopted back in 2018. But it has not fully worked for various reasons. We are currently working on improving the gaps and automating the process as much as possible.” , – explains Pavlo. Together with like-minded people, they want to create something like a CRM system, where there will be information about all those who have gone missing. Pavlo says that currently these data are recorded in Excel tables. The law should oblige the relevant services of the Ministry of Defense to enter information there as soon as the connection with the military disappeared. After that, the information will automatically be sent to the police, the territorial center of recruitment and social support, and other services involved in the search. “Deputy Ostapenko is consulting with representatives of the Ministry of Digital Transformation to find out to what extent it is possible to automate the process in such a way that a person in Diya can see at what stage the search for his missing relative is going. If he is declared dead, then the family will also automatically receive payments,” he says Paul According to him, the working group has already created an action algorithm: who should do what. Now you need to develop the automated system itself, make appropriate changes to the legislation, launch and fine-tune the process. But, unfortunately, it can take years. At the same time, every serviceman has to take care of some things himself before going to war. Pavlo advises to submit DNA. In the event of a tragedy, this will facilitate the search. And also – to write the so-called “last letter”, where it is clearly indicated who exactly will receive payments in the event of his death. “Of course, this is a very unsightly topic. But we will still have many problems with these payments in the future. After all, someone has not divorced, but has lived with another woman in a civil marriage for many years. There are also many other controversial points about this. Therefore, a person alone should decide who will receive the money,” Pavlo believes. Pavlo Lolashvili, the brother of the deceased, in case of losing contact with a serviceman, Pavlo Lolashvili spoke about the procedure to be followed by relatives or relatives of a person who has disappeared without a trace. Write a statement to the police This should be done as soon as contact with the person is lost, even if three days have not passed. Pavlo says that this will help to quickly start the search: take a court decision on finding the mobile phone beacon, call witnesses – other military or civilians, etc. As of the end of November 2022, more than 15,000 people are considered missing. But in reality, it is difficult to count their number, since there are still temporarily occupied territories to which there is no access. Pavlo advises to be active yourself and help the police in the search. You can contact the military commander, find out the names of people who may potentially know something, and give this information to the investigator to question them. Obtaining DNA It is necessary to ensure that the investigator issues a decision to obtain the DNA of the mother or another relative, if the DNA of the veteran or the military is not in the database. Personal belongings of the missing person, such as a toothbrush or clothes, are also suitable for analysis. Unfortunately, due to the high workload of the laboratories, it may take months to receive the test result. Currently, there are two DNA databases in Ukraine – at the National Police and at the Ministry of Health. Later they should be united. Contact the National Information Bureau at 1648 or (044) 287-81-65, as well as the Commissioner for Missing Persons under Special Circumstances – 0 800-339-247. The International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine also deals with this – 0800-300-155. Search independently via the Internet According to Pavel, there is a lot of information on Russian channels in Telegram and Tiktok. You can find them using the key words “prisoners of the armed forces”. The Russians film captured, killed Ukrainian soldiers and post it all online. Of course, such a search will require a lot of emotional strength. But the police rarely look at such content, and it can be valuable. DO NOT publish data and photos of a missing serviceman on the Internet, report about him in chatbots or in any other way. This can cause irreparable damage to the captive. If you know that a soldier has disappeared on the battlefield, you need to call the hospitals and morgues where the wounded and dead were brought. hospitals and searches among the prisoners. But the body may be in the morgue among the unidentified, or under the rubble or buried at the scene of the events. Badri was found with documents, so we immediately learned about it. But only the remains of some boys remained in Moshchun,” says Pavlo . If possible, come to the scene and talk to local residents. They can recognize a person by a photo and tell some details. “Of course, after the liberation of the territory, the police, the SBU, and the military will work there. But everyone will be interested in their information. And if a person comes with a photo card of a relative, then one of the locals may remember something and tell. When we put up a commemorative plaque with Badri’s photo in Moschun, several people came up to us and told us that they had seen my brother in the village,” explains Pavlo. Always be in touch. At any moment, the soldier himself or those holding him can call. it is worth understanding that in such a case there are no guarantees,” says Pavlo. If the enemy has established contact with you, you need to contact the local SBU office with an official letter. During contact with the enemy, if possible, record the conversation, take a screenshot or take a photo of the correspondence if the chat is closed. Track in messengers whether the number of the missing person has appeared on the network. Often, the Russian military uses the phones of our defenders in everyday life, without even changing the account. You can write something or call. In addition, with the appropriate permission, our special services will be able to track where the phone is. Nataliya Naydyuk, specially for UP. Life

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