Rules for punishing deserters may change in Ukraine: unexpected decision by parliament
19 July 2024 17:54
ЕКСКЛЮЗИВ
Recently, the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law on exemption from criminal liability for AWOL (unauthorised desertion – ed.) and desertion.
If the draft law is adopted in its entirety, Ukrainian soldiers will be exempted from liability for the first unauthorised abandonment of a military unit and desertion. The main conditions for exemption from liability are that the serviceman must declare his intention to return to service before the end of the pre-trial investigation, and the commander of the military unit must agree to the return of such a serviceman.
"Komersant Ukrainian" talked to Yulia Yatsyk, the head of the Subcommittee on Criminal Procedural Legislation and Operational Investigative Activity of the Law Enforcement Committee, MP, about why the adoption of such a law is really “urgent” and under what circumstances the military faces criminal liability for AWOL and desertion.
Who does the draft law concern?
This draft law concerns the closure of those criminal cases that already exist against deserters and will not apply to all, but only to those who have returned to their units.
During our work in the TCC (investigating possible violations of Ukrainian legislation in the Ministry of Defence, the Armed Forces and other military formations established in accordance with the law, special purpose law enforcement agencies, whose positions are staffed by military and law enforcement personnel – ed.
Can you give us some examples?
For example, there is a counter-offensive and other active hostilities in which servicemen are injured. They are evacuated from other brigades, sent to a civilian hospital or hospital, and the person is unconscious or just concerned about their health.
So, at this time, they are forced to file a report with the State Bureau of Investigation and declare that the soldier is not in the defence zone, and, accordingly, a criminal case is initiated. Then, after recovery, the soldier returns to his brigade and is summoned for interrogation as a suspect or receives a notice of suspicion.
The soldier tries to explain the situation, but due to difficulties with document flow, the case is not closed, because formally there is a crime. There are a lot of such cases.
But there are cases when people leave the unit without permission, not because of injuries, etc. Will the law also apply to them?
Yes, but only if they return to the brigade. Indeed, it happens that a person is very frightened during active hostilities and runs away, then returns a couple of days later, and a criminal case is already opened.
We are all human beings, and it is for such soldiers who at some point could not cope with themselves, with their emotions, but realised and regained control of themselves and returned to their unit that the military command, the General Staff, the Land Forces Command initiates the issue of exemption from criminal liability, as they continue to defend the state.
What is the SBI’s attitude to this?
The SBI is not interested in investigating such cases, and there are even cases when they do not enter them into the URPTI register because they understand the situation and that it is necessary to take the military off their position and bring them to justice. And yet there are many cases, a lot.
How can servicemen be released from criminal liability
As explained by ArmyInform, only a court can release a serviceman from criminal liability at the request of a prosecutor.
First, the serviceman must notify the prosecutor of his desire to return to service. The prosecutor will then receive a written consent from the serviceman to be released from criminal liability and a written consent from the commander of the military unit to allow the serviceman to continue serving. Draw up a petition and send it to the court without conducting a full pre-trial investigation.
If a serviceman is kept in custody at the stage of pre-trial investigation, he has the right to apply to the prosecutor with a petition to initiate the issue of cancellation of this preventive measure before the investigating judge or court in order to continue his service. Such a motion must be considered immediately.
If the court decides to close the criminal proceedings and release from criminal liability, the service or contract of the serviceman resumes from the day of his arrival at the military unit or place of service. From that moment on, the payment of monetary and food, clothing and other types of support, benefits and social guarantees established by the legislation of Ukraine resume.
It is worth noting that the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Ukraine, Stanislav Kravchenko, recently stated that in 2023, 1577 people were convicted in Ukraine for unauthorisedly leaving a military unit.
In general, AWOL is the most common crime among the Ukrainian military. According to the State Judicial Administration, it accounts for 61% of all crimes in the military. In total, 2,585 servicemen were convicted in 2023, which is more than the year before, when there were 1,490 such cases.
Author – Aliona Kaplina
