Rada reinstates criminal liability for AWOL: what is known

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Thursday, September 4, supported in the first reading a bill that reinstates criminal liability for unauthorized abandonment of a military unit. This was reported by UNN with reference to MP Oleksandr Fediienko.

Details

"For" bill No. 13260, 277 MPs voted. Fediienko also noted that if this bill is adopted in its entirety, the court will not be able to apply the mitigating norm.

This bill proposes to introduce the following changes to the current legislation:

• exclude Part 5 of Article 401 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It provides that a person who, during martial law, committed for the first time a criminal offense provided for in Article 407 ("Unauthorized abandonment of a military unit or place of service"), or Article 408 ("Desertion") may be released from criminal liability if they voluntarily applied to the investigator, prosecutor, court with a request to return to the military unit or place of service;
• supplement Section II of the Final and Transitional Provisions of the Criminal Code with a new paragraph 24. It provides for separate grounds for exemption from criminal liability for persons who, during martial law, committed for the first time criminal offenses provided for in Articles 407 and 408 of the Criminal Code, want to return to military service or have already returned to military service and are serving it;
• amend Articles 286 ("Procedure for exemption from criminal liability"), 287 ("Prosecutor's petition for exemption from criminal liability") and 288 ("Consideration of the issue of exemption from criminal liability") of the Criminal Procedure Code, and also supplement Section XI "Transitional Provisions" of the Criminal Procedure Code with a new paragraph 20-10. This paragraph is intended to regulate the conditions and procedure for exempting servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from criminal liability if there are grounds.

Recall

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted bill No. 13177, which extends the term for voluntary return to service for servicemen who have arbitrarily left their unit until August 30, 2025.