Prospect of return: SZCH will reduce the sentence

A group of deputies of the Verkhovna Rada initiated draft law No. 14213, which restores the possibility of imposing mitigated sentences or releasing service members from probation for certain military crimes.

In particular, we are referring to Articles 403, 405, 407, 408, and 429 of the Criminal Code, which concern threats or violence against superiors, unauthorized leaving a military unit, desertion, and refusal to carry out orders with weapons. After the adoption of Law No. 2839-IX in 2022, courts could no longer take mitigating circumstances into account or grant release from punishment.

The deputies note that statistics show the number of criminal cases under these articles is not decreasing; rather, it is increasing. In their opinion, the strict norms introduced earlier failed to fulfill their preventive function and limited the courts’ ability to take into account the specific circumstances of each case.

The explanatory note to the bill includes information that many service members who voluntarily left the service want to return to their duties. Therefore, the restoration of Articles 69 and 75 of the Criminal Code will allow judges to impose punishment individually, taking into account the psycho-emotional state of the servicemen.

The authors of the bill emphasize that the proposed changes do not abolish disciplinary liability or reduce the level of military discipline. They only restore the possibility of taking mitigating circumstances into account in justified cases.