Refusal of the injury payment: challenging the decision

What is happening

A refusal rarely reads like one. The usual letter says the certificate is on the wrong form, there is no finding on causation, the circumstances of the wound are «unconfirmed», or the papers were lost when you moved between units. People read this as final, when in fact it is an argument about documents.

The second common reason is a mismatch between the medical file and what the commander wrote. The hospital says one thing, the unit report another, the internal inquiry a third. Until those versions are reconciled, no payment is awarded.

Sometimes there is simply silence: the application is in, no answer comes, and time passes. In law, inaction is challenged in the same way as a written refusal, so there is no need to exhaust correspondence first.

What the law says

• The right to a lump-sum payment for a wound comes from Presidential Decree No. 98 of 5 March 2022, with the payment procedure set by a Ministry of Defence order. The amount and the procedure are fixed by regulation, not by the commander's discretion.
• The decisive document is the military medical board's finding on the causal link between the injury and service. The wording «military injury» opens the payment; «illness contracted during service» closes it.
• The circumstances of the wound are proved by a certificate in the prescribed form, the unit report and the internal inquiry file. A missing document does not remove the right if the fact is confirmed by other evidence.
• A refusal, or a failure to decide, is challenged through the chain of command and in the garrison military court by way of administrative proceedings.
• Article 219(1) of the Code of Administrative Procedure (KAS RF) allows three months from the day you learned of the refusal to go to court. The deadline can be restored, but it is better not to rely on that.
• Where payment has been wrongly delayed, interest on the money withheld is recovered along with the payment itself.

What we do

• We read the refusal and separate the real ground from the formal one; the dispute is often about a single line in a certificate.
• We request from the unit and the hospital the documents never handed to you: the unit report, the internal inquiry file, medical records.
• We prepare your written application and the complaint up the chain of command, so the dispute is recorded and answered in writing.
• Where needed, we pursue a review of the medical board's finding on causation, without which a money claim goes nowhere.
• We draft the administrative claim to the garrison military court and conduct the case, including evidence from fellow servicemen.
• We claim interest for the period of delay and follow the money through to actual transfer.

What we need from you

• The written refusal or official reply, if you have one, with the envelope or a receipt stamp.
• Your contract and extracts from the orders posting you to the unit and assigning you to tasks.
• Medical documents: the hospital discharge summary, your medical book, the medical board finding.
• The certificate on the circumstances of the wound, if issued, and anything from the internal inquiry.
• Names of fellow servicemen who witnessed the events and the units where they serve.
• Copies of the applications and complaints you have already filed, with registration marks.