Rada wants to make it impossible for persons who have committed crimes against national security to avoid liability

The Verkhovna Rada intends to provide for the impossibility of avoiding criminal liability by persons who have committed crimes against national security.

Yaroslav Zhelezniak, a Member of Parliament from the Holos faction, has written this on his Telegram channel, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

241 parliamentarians voted for bill No. 11517 as the basis, with a minimum of 226 votes required.

The bill proposes to make the following changes:

- replace the title of Section I of the Special Part of the Criminal Code "Crimes against the Fundamentals of National Security of Ukraine" with "Criminal Offenses against the Fundamentals of National Security of Ukraine";

- in part 5 of Article 49 of the Criminal Code, replace the word "crimes" with the words "criminal offenses";

- in part 2 of Article 297-1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the word "crimes" should be replaced with the words "criminal offenses".

The authors of the document believe that the adoption of the bill will ensure the elimination of technical shortcomings in the wording of individual norms of the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes, and will also contribute to preventing cases of evasion of criminal liability by persons who have committed criminal offenses against the foundations of national security.

The explanatory note indicates that by Law No. 2108-IX of March 3, 2022, the Criminal Code was supplemented with Article 111-1 (collaborative activities).

The current wordings of Part 1 and Part 2 of Article 111-1, in terms of the main type of punishment, provide for deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of 10 to 15 years.

"Accordingly, according to the rules of Part 2 of Article 12 (Classification of Criminal Offenses) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, if the main punishment for an act (action or inaction) provided for by the Criminal Code of Ukraine is a fine of no more than three thousand non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens or another punishment not related to imprisonment, such a criminal offense is a criminal misdemeanor. Considering that Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in its current version is part of Section I "Crimes against the Fundamentals of National Security of Ukraine" of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the title of the section requires technical changes," the explanatory note states.

According to the explanatory note, the provisions of Article 49 (Exemption from Criminal Liability in Connection with the Expiration of Limitation Periods) require changes, in which in the current version, Part 5 provides that the statute of limitations does not apply in the case of crimes against the foundations of national security provided for, among others, in Article 111-1 of the Criminal Code.

Also, editorial changes are required to the provisions of Article 297-1 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which determine the general provisions of a special pre-trial investigation.

Thus, the legal provisions of Part 2 of this Article determine the list of crimes under the articles of the Criminal Code, in respect of which a special pre-trial investigation is carried out on the basis of a decision of the investigating judge.

At the same time, the specified list provides for the conduct of a special pre-trial investigation, among other articles, in Article 111-1, where Parts 1 and 2, as well as Article 445 (illegal use of the symbols of the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Crystal) of the Criminal Code, which are criminal offenses.

Therefore, the provisions of Part 2 of Article 297-1 of the Criminal Procedure Code as amended by the bill should provide for a special pre-trial investigation into certain criminal offenses.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in March 2022, the Verkhovna Rada introduced a penalty of life imprisonment with confiscation of property for high treason and sabotage under martial law.

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