The council has taken two more steps to implement the Rome Statute

The Verkhovna Rada has adopted as a basis two draft laws on criminal liability for international crimes, which are necessary for the implementation of the Rome Statute. In particular, it is planned to introduce penalties for the crime of aggression and genocide, crimes against humanity and for the failure of a military commander to take measures to prevent an international crime. This is reported by UNN with reference to people's deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak and maps of draft laws No. 11538 and No. 11539.

Details

"No. 11538-coordination of criminal legislation with the Rome Statute. As a basis (238). No. 11539-amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the Rome Statute. As a basis (240)," Zheleznyak said.

As stated in the explanatory note to the draft law No. 11538, its purpose is "to bring the National Criminal Legislation of Ukraine in full compliance with the requirements of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to ensure fair, necessary and inevitable punishment of persons who commit international crimes.

The draft law defines the basis and limits of criminal liability for international crimes.

"This law applies to international crimes committed by citizens of Ukraine, stateless persons or foreigners on the territory of Ukraine or outside the territory of Ukraine," the document says.

The following basic penalties may be applied to a person found guilty of committing an international crime::

• imprisonment for up to thirty years;

• life imprisonment.

A person found guilty of an international crime may be subject to an additional penalty in the form of confiscation of property.

In particular, the bill introduces penalties for the" crime of genocide", that is, intentional Commission in order to destroy in whole or in part a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such.:

• murder of a person belonging to one of these groups;

• grievous bodily harm, rape or other sexual act committed in the absence of the victim's voluntary consent, torture or other inhuman or degrading treatment of people belonging to one of these groups;

• deliberately creating living conditions for one of these groups, designed for its complete or partial physical destruction;

• taking measures to prevent childbearing in one of these groups;

• forced transfer of a child from one of these groups to another.

Such a crime is punishable by imprisonment for a term of twenty to thirty years or life imprisonment.

The same penalty is imposed for " directing the commission of the crime of genocide, that is, intentionally committed by a person who actually directed or controlled the political or military activities of the state, personally or jointly with another person or through another person.

This can be the development of a plan for the commission of the crime of genocide; participation in making a political decision on its commission; ordering the commission of the crime of genocide; encouraging the commission of such a crime or directing actions that constitute the crime of genocide.

Public calls for the crime of genocide or its justification or denial are punishable by up to twenty years ' imprisonment.

For a crime against humanity in the form of premeditated murder or extermination of another person in the framework of a large – scale or systemic attack deliberately directed against the civilian population-shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of twenty to thirty years or life imprisonment.

A crime against humanity in other forms, which can be expressed in the form of enslavement, deportation or forced displacement of the population, slavery, human trafficking, etc., entails a penalty of imprisonment from twenty to thirty years.

For a war crime in the form of murder, that is, the execution of prisoners of war, the penalty is provided in the form of imprisonment from twenty to thirty years, or life imprisonment.

It also introduces liability for the crime of aggression, which involves the Commission intentionally by a person who has the ability to actually direct the political or military activities of the state or control such activities, personally or jointly with another person or through another person.

For such a crime, the penalty is provided in the form of imprisonment for a term of twenty to thirty years or life imprisonment.

The penalty in the form of imprisonment for up to twenty years will be applied for propaganda of an act of aggression, that is, public calls for aggressive war or unleashing a military conflict; production of materials with calls for aggressive war or unleashing a military conflict; distribution or public use of materials with calls for aggressive war or unleashing a military conflict, etc.

In addition, the authors propose to establish the responsibility of the commander (Chief) for International Crimes of subordinates.

Thus, failure by a military commander or a person actually acting as a military commander who knew or, under the circumstances, should have known that a military force had committed or intended to commit an offence, owing to his or her inability to exercise proper control over such forces, to take all necessary and reasonable measures within the limits of his or her powers to:

• prevention of such a crime;

• termination of its commission;

• refer the matter to the competent authorities for investigation and prosecution.

Is punishable by imprisonment for a term of twenty to thirty years.

Draft law No. 11539 is technical and introduces amendments to the Criminal Code in terms of the fact that the elements of a crime were determined not only in the criminal code, but in general – in the "legislation of Ukraine on criminal liability".

recall

The Verkhovna Rada supported the bill on ratification of the Rome Statute.

The Verkhovna Rada adopted as a whole the bill of the president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, which is aimed at bringing the provisions of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in line with the norms of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and ensuring criminal prosecution for the most serious international crimes.