Rada committee backs draft law toughening punishment for military disobedience
The Verkhovna Rada Committee on Law Enforcement has supported a draft law proposing prison terms of 5 to 10 years for servicemen who disobey a commander’s order.
This was announced by the Council committee, according to Censor.NET.
In the explanatory note to draft law No. 13452, the proposal is justified by the fact that currently servicemen (as well as conscripts and reservists) can avoid liability for administrative offenses if they are considered minor and do not entail criminal responsibility.
Lawmakers argue that this "does not contribute to maintaining proper discipline in units and military formations and undermines the principle of the inevitability of fair punishment."
The authors of the draft law note that current legislation does not allow a court to impose a sentence lighter than that prescribed by law, or a probationary period, for offenses such as failure to execute a commander’s order, threats or violence against a commander, AWOL, or desertion. However, disobedience is not included in this list.
In the note, the initiators call this "illogical, given the danger of such an act under martial law or in combat conditions, and the consequences it may lead to."
Currently, Ukraine’s Criminal Code provides for imprisonment of five to ten years for disobedience committed under martial law or in combat conditions. This means that if the draft law is adopted, the court will not be able to impose a lighter sentence.
The initiators of the bill are MPs Serhii Ionushas, Maksym Pavliuk, Vladlen Nekliudov, among others.
