Over 4,000 prisoners in Ukraine ready to go to front – Justice Ministry

Almost 5,000 convicts have agreed with the fact that it is necessary to adopt a law on parole by entering into a contract for military service.

Deputy Minister of Justice Olena Vysotska said this in an interview with Hlavkom.

She notes that in April, the Ministry of Justice conducted a survey among prisoners, where they were asked questions about release by signing a contract for military service.

"4,500 convicts answered: "Yes,'' the deputy minister noted. At the same time, it is clarified that the administration of the institutions serving the sentences did not interview the prisoners according to the articles of the Penal Code, some of which are not currently subject to mobilization. It was also not taken into account their state of health.

Olena Vysotska explained that when the Ministry of Justice prepared statistics on this issue for people's deputies, they immediately rejected about 4,000 convicts diagnosed with socially dangerous diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, and tuberculosis. However, the obstacle may not be so much a "bouquet" of diseases as the convict's lack of desire to go to war.

According to the information announced by the Ministry of Justice at the meeting of the specialized committee, 20,000 convicts can use the right of parole.

Vysotska notes that in order to implement the law, which allows certain categories of prisoners to mobilize to the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it is necessary to adopt a number of additional by-laws. According to her, work is currently being prepared together with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which will be reviewed at a government meeting, as well as reinforced by internal orders of these ministries. At the same time, she added that it would take several weeks before the Law would be fully implemented.

According to the Ministry of Justice, as of May 15, 2024, there were 27,471 convicts in Ukrainian colonies, including 1,538 women.

Persons convicted of:

• crimes against the national security of Ukraine (Article 109-114-2 of the Penal Code);
• committing intentional murder of two or more persons, or committed with particular cruelty, or combined with rape or sexual violence (Section 2 of Article 115 of the Penal Code);
• criminal offenses against a person's sexual freedom and sexual integrity (criminal offenses provided for in Articles 152-156-1 of the Penal Code);
• terrorism (criminal offenses provided for by articles 258-258-6 of the Penal Code);
• fatal traffic accident committed under the influence of drugs or alcohol (Section 4 of Article 286-1 of the Penal Code).

Vysotska emphasized that the legislators wrote the law in such a way that the released convicts would serve in separate military units. Thus, society is relieved of unnecessary warnings about the alleged evasion of the released convicts. They will definitely not serve in the rear.

As earlier reported, the head of the Servant of the People faction in the Verkhovna Rada, David Arakhamia, predicts the mobilization of several thousand prisoners as a result of the adoption of the corresponding bill.