Criminal legislation will be amended to reflect the ratification of the Rome Statute: Verkhovna Rada adopts law
Kyiv • UNN
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted a draft law amending the Criminal Code of Ukraine in accordance with the Rome Statute of the ICC. The amendments provide for stricter punishment for aggression and the introduction of new articles on crimes against humanity.
The Verkhovna Rada has adopted as a whole a bill by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy aimed at bringing the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in line with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and ensuring criminal prosecution for the most serious international crimes. UNN reports this with reference to MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
The Verkhovna Rada adopted in general No. 11484 on amendments to criminal legislation in connection with the ratification of the Rome Statute
Addendum [1
In August, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced a draft law aimed at bringing the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in line with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and ensuring criminal prosecution of the most serious international crimes.
It was proposed to change the titles of some articles of the Criminal Code. In particular, Article 437 "Planning, Preparation, Unleashing and Waging of an Aggressive War" was proposed to be replaced with "The Crime of Aggression" - planning, preparation or unleashing of an aggressive war or military conflict, as well as participation in a conspiracy aimed at committing such actions, which would be punishable by a more severe penalty of imprisonment for a term of 10 to 15 years (currently 7 to 12 years), and for waging an aggressive war or aggressive military actions, by imprisonment for a term of 10 to 15 years or life imprisonment (currently 10 to 12 years).
Zelenskyy also proposed to change the title of Article 438, "Violation of the Laws and Customs of War," to "War Crimes." The penalty in this article does not change.
In addition, the Criminal Code is supplemented with new articles, including "Crimes against humanity," i.e., intentional commission as part of a deliberate large-scale or systematic attack on civilians, which is expressed in:
- persecution of any identifiable group or community, i.e. restriction of fundamental human rights on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious, sexual or other grounds (characteristics) of discrimination defined by international law as unacceptable;
- deportation of the population, i.e., the forced transfer (expulsion) of one or more persons from the territory in which they legally resided to the territory of another state in the absence of grounds provided for by international law;
- Forced displacement of the population, i.e., the forced and unjustified transfer (eviction) of one or more persons from the area in which they legally resided to another area within the same state;
- rape, sexual exploitation, forced prostitution, forced pregnancy, forced sterilization or any other form of sexual violence;
- slavery or human trafficking;
- enforced disappearance;
- illegal deprivation of liberty;
- torture;
- other intentional inhuman acts of a similar nature, which are accompanied by the infliction of severe suffering or serious bodily injury or serious harm to mental or physical health.
Such criminal violations are punishable by imprisonment for a term of 7 to 15 years.
Recall
The Verkhovna Rada supported the ratification of the Rome Statute with 281 votes. Before the vote, MPs received letters of support from the General Staff and Budanov, although the discussion was tense with arguments for and against.
