"Servant of People" MP Bezuhla: We expect to develop concept for military justice this year. VIDEO
The Verkhovna Rada’s temporary special commission tasked with preparing for the establishment of a military justice system in Ukraine currently faces no particular obstacles in cooperating with representatives of the state authorities involved in this work.
Ukrainian MP and commission chair Mariana Bezuhla said this in a comment to Censor.NET.
No obstacles to the commission’s work
"There are no particular obstacles. But we must understand that we are at the stage of reviewing the history, studying archives, and developing a concept. Obstacles may arise (although I hope they will not) at the voting, implementation, and oversight stages. For now, however, cooperation is proceeding normally. For me, working with the judiciary was, of course, terra incognita at first. But the Ministry of Justice was very helpful here, particularly the minister, who worked in parliament for a long time and chaired the relevant legal policy committee. So we established contact, and representatives were assigned. We have representatives of the High Council of Justice, the High Qualification Commission of Judges, and the Supreme Court. We have finally revived this issue, which had been completely dormant. We began by examining specialized military courts, since that was where the most questions arose. Ukraine abolished its military courts at one point, and I am convinced there was Russian influence behind this — it is clearly evident in the study conducted by the commission. Portnov, among others, was involved. Everything was presented under the guise of European integration. Next, our work will include an examination of the military prosecution service. It was re-established after Russia’s invasion. Then there were disputes involving Matios, who headed it, and the service was shut down as part of those disputes. Nevertheless, the basic framework survived in the form of specialization. So, theoretically, we could restore the military prosecution service or strengthen the specialized service — we will examine this issue next week," she said.
Establishing military police
According to the MP, the commission will also soon consider establishing military police. "It has never been established, despite numerous working groups over several parliamentary terms, particularly after 2014. There were also various offers of assistance from partners, including Canada. But no decision was adopted. I even contacted members of previous parliaments and invited them to cooperate so that we could have some historical perspective," Bezuhla said, adding: "The Ministry of Defense has also submitted its materials. It has established a working subgroup and appointed a ministry representative. The Military Law Enforcement Service, lawyers, and others have also submitted their official positions. Essentially, the vast majority of agencies have already reviewed their archives and sent us their positions on this. These are, of course, preliminary, but they are being recorded so we can understand what existed before and what the situation is now. We will then refine this work and expect to develop a concept for military justice this year, followed by implementation. The commission’s mandate is one year. But a special commission’s work can be extended. Such commissions can operate for several years. However, I hope, and am doing everything possible, to ensure that within the commission’s first six months, we already have a vision and structure in place, have voted through certain decisions and have begun implementation."
How much implementing a military justice system will cost
The commission chair said Ministry of Finance representatives were also involved in the process and would calculate the cost of implementing a military justice system. "In fact, this does not involve particularly large sums, because it is essentially an internal reorganization within the state, rather than an infrastructure project or the establishment of a separate branch of the Armed Forces. Of course, establishing military courts will require additional funding. Nevertheless, to be specific, we need to finalize all these details by the beginning of spring if they are to be included in the 2028 budget," she explained.
