A group of people's deputies registered a bill in the Verkhovna Rada that provides for establishing a restriction of liberty for civilians for up to 3 years for disseminating materials that insult the honor of a serviceman or his relatives, and for threatening a serviceman or his close relatives with violence or destruction of property, to provide for responsibility of up to 5 years of imprisonment. This is reported by UNN with reference to the bill cards №13384 and №13384-1.
Bill 13384
In June, People's Deputy Anton Yatsenko submitted bill No. 13384 to the Verkhovna Rada, which provides for the exclusion of Article 435-1 of the Criminal Code "Insulting the honor and dignity of a serviceman, threatening a serviceman", and instead making a similar article with the same punishment Article No. 350-1.
Currently, insulting the honor and dignity, threatening with murder, violence or destruction or damage to property of a serviceman who is carrying out measures to ensure national security and defense, repelling and deterring armed aggression of the Russian Federation, his close relatives or family members - is punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of three to five years or imprisonment for the same term.
It also provides for punishment in the form of restriction of liberty for a term of 3 to 5 years or imprisonment for the same term for the production and dissemination of materials that contain an insult to the honor and dignity, a threat of murder, violence or destruction or damage to property of a serviceman who is carrying out measures to ensure national security and defense.
The bill proposes to state the title of Chapter XV of the "Special Part" of the Criminal Code in the following wording: "Criminal offenses against the authority of state authorities, local self-government bodies, citizens' associations, criminal offenses against journalists and servicemen."
The explanatory note indicates that, according to the content of the provisions of the disposition of the specified article and its placement in Chapter XIX of the "Special Part" of the Criminal Code of Ukraine "Military criminal offenses", civilians cannot be subjects of the specified crime.
Thus, the public danger of a criminally unlawful insult lies in the fact that this act infringes upon both public relations that ensure the personal honor and dignity of the victim (serviceman), and other groups of public relations, and it is the latter that act as the main direct object of the criminal offense. In the crime provided for in Art. 435-1 of the Criminal Code, these can be recognized as relations that ensure the authority of military service or even the foundations of national security of the state. Instead, the established procedure for military service is not such an object, moreover, subjects who commit insults to servicemen are, in practice, recognized as any persons who have the general characteristics defined in Part 1 of Art. 18 of the Criminal Code, which contradicts Part 2 of Art. 401 of the Criminal Code. In connection with the above, it is advisable to exclude Art. 435-1 of the Criminal Code from Chapter XIX of the Special Part of the Criminal Code and transfer this legislative provision to Chapter XV "Criminal offenses against the authority of state authorities, local self-government bodies, citizens' associations and criminal offenses against journalists" with an expansion of its title.
Bill 13384-1
In July, an alternative bill to the main one was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada, which proposes to supplement the Criminal Code with Article 345-2 "Threat or violence against a serviceman and insult to his honor and dignity."
According to the article, insulting the honor and dignity of a serviceman or his close relatives, in connection with his implementation of measures to ensure national security and defense of Ukraine, repelling and deterring armed aggression, as well as manufacturing for the purpose of dissemination and/or dissemination of materials containing such an insult - is punishable by a fine of 17 thousand hryvnias to 68 thousand hryvnias or public works for a term of 120 to 240 hours or probationary supervision for a term of up to 3 years, or restriction of liberty for a term of 1 to 3 years.
Threatening a serviceman or his close relatives with murder, violence or destruction of property, in connection with his implementation of measures to ensure national security and defense of Ukraine, repelling and deterring armed aggression - is punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of 3 to 5 years or imprisonment for 3 to 5 years.
Intentional infliction of beatings, light or medium-severity bodily injuries on a serviceman or his close relatives in connection with his implementation of measures to ensure national security and defense of Ukraine, repelling and deterring armed aggression - is punishable by restriction of liberty for a term of 3 to 5 years or imprisonment for a term of 3 to 7 years.
Intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm on a serviceman or his close relatives in connection with his implementation of measures to ensure national security and defense of Ukraine, repelling and deterring armed aggression - is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years.
Actions committed repeatedly or by prior conspiracy by a group of persons - are punishable by imprisonment for a term of 8 to 12 years.
However, it is indicated that servicemen, as well as conscripts and reservists during training, are not subjects of criminal offenses defined by this article.
That is, responsibility under the new article will apply to civilians.
Conclusion of the main committee
The Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Law Enforcement recommended that the Verkhovna Rada include bill 13384-1 in the agenda and, based on the results of the consideration, adopt it in the first reading as a basis. Bill 13384 should be rejected based on the results of consideration in the Rada.
Recall
Deputies propose to amend the Criminal Code and abolish the possibility of imposing milder penalties on military personnel for disobedience. Bill No. 13452 provides only for punishment in the form of 5 to 10 years in prison.