“I’ll buy documents for firewood”: Ukrainians troll on social media for a new law that turns firewood into a crime
4 November 2024 14:56
on October 10, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed a law that provides for stricter punishment for storing firewood without documents. Amendments were made to the Administrative and Criminal Codes, and the law is now awaiting the President’s signature. As reported by "Komersant Ukrainian", the new law will impose fines or imprisonment for storing firewood at home without documents. The penalty is up to 7 years in prison (or up to 10 years in martial law).
Among the 26 MPs who initiated draft law No. 9665, Servant of the People MP Yuriy Kamelchuk confirmed in a commentary to Suspilne that the law’s purpose is to toughen punishment for illegal logging.
Another initiator of the bill is MP from the Servant of the People party , Danylo Hetmantsev. He noted that the law was not his and did not know the details.
“I must have signed it with someone…. It’s not even my law, where I was a co-author, maybe it was, but it changes between the first and second reading. That is, there may have been changes, I’m not ready to comment on it.”
Danylo Hetmantsev
However, Ukrainians living in rural areas fear that this innovation will hit them hard, as traditional firewood storage can be equated to an offense.
What lawyers say
According to lawyer Oleksiy Kinebas, this law, if it comes into force, may particularly affect residents of rural areas.
“This law does not have any transitional provisions, which means that as soon as the president signs it, police officers can come to people who store firewood worth more than UAH 30,000 and start criminal proceedings. Even if a person says that this firewood was harvested in the summer or last year, this will not relieve them of responsibility.”
Oleksiy Kinebas
The lawyer says that the new law may hit Chernihiv region especially hard. In Chernihiv Oblast, where winters are harsh, people traditionally use firewood as their main fuel. Due to economic difficulties and remoteness from central gas networks, villagers often stock up on firewood on their own, including by collecting fallen trees or leftovers from forestry operations.
However, according to the new law, if the amount of firewood exceeds the equivalent of 30 thousand hryvnias, its owners risk criminal punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of five to seven years.
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Reactions of Ukrainians
Meanwhile, social media exploded with memes and jokes about the new law. Some people are already preparing to pay fines, others are hiding firewood so that law enforcement officers don’t find it.
Ukrainians have also started to put firewood on their beds and demonstrate their presence in their homes.
Even MPs reacted. However, only those who did not vote are joking.
on October 15, the bill was submitted to the president for signature. Lawyer Oleksiy Kinebas expressed hope that the president would veto the law to avoid unfair punishment of those for whom firewood is the only available means of heating.
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Author: Daryna Glushchenko
