STRENGTHENING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE MILITARY

On January 24, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed bill № 8271, which increased the responsibility of military personnel for a number of offenses. This draft law amended the Criminal Code and the Code of Administrative Offenses. The transformation also affected a number of other legal acts.

What has changed in the legislation?

Therefore, according to a number of articles, the court is prohibited from reducing the punishment or giving suspended terms to servicemen. This applies to such articles as:

• disobedience (Article 402);
• threats or violence against a superior (Article 405);
• desertion (Article 408);
• voluntary abandonment of a military unit (Article 407) or the battlefield (Article 429);
• failure to comply with the order (Article 403).

In addition to the listed legislative changes, it is worth noting that responsibility for war crimes and corresponding administrative offenses has also increased.

What do these changes mean in practice?

Despite the fact that the aforementioned law was supported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhnyi, the legal act caused a number of discussions in the public sphere. Proponents of the law argued that the listed offenses have serious consequences during martial law. After all, in a situation where, for example, part of the servicemen voluntarily leaves the battlefield, it implicates others. However, opponents of the law also expressed a fairly important argument that the human factor often works in the army, and no one ruled out the possibility of abuse by commanders.

Nevertheless, the law was adopted. Therefore, those to whom it concerns should take care not to suffer from arbitrariness or injustice as a result of the manifestation of the human factor on the part of the command. Professional lawyers can help in such a situation. Such a team of specialists works at the "PRIKHODKO&PARTNERS" law office, and military cases belong to one of the key and most demanded areas of our specialization today.

Why legal support is so important?

It is good for every military person to have the contacts of a good lawyer who can advise in any controversial situation. Our company has such professionals. Maybe everything will be fine, and you won't need the help of a specialist, but just having it will add more confidence and comfort.

We provide consultations in various customer-friendly formats:

• ocular;
• online;
• telephone;
• written.

We understand very well that our customers may be in situations where they are uncomfortable talking. So you can get competent answers to your questions even in written form. Also, the help of a good lawyer will help you not get lost in an unexpected situation, where the future may depend on the correct strategy of behavior.

Let's imagine a situation with an order, the execution of which is impossible or leaves no chance of returning alive from a combat mission.

Sometimes this happens when the human factor comes into play. Failure to comply with the order entails increased responsibility. An alternative course of action here may be to write a report on clarifying the order. When a serviceman knows and defends his rights, the commander has significantly less leverage for abuse and understands that he cannot act arbitrarily, but must reasonably explain his actions.

Above was just one example where the intervention of a lawyer helps to influence the situation. In our practice, there are enough examples in other matters related to military service. So take care of yourself and stand up for your rights when the need arises.