Ukraine’s government approves punishment for civil servants who force Russian passport upon citizens
OLENA ROSHCHINA — FRIDAY, 16 SEPTEMBER 2022, 11:56
Ukrainian ministers have agreed on a draft law on criminal liability for civil servants who obtained Russian passports and induced Ukrainian citizens in the occupied territories to accept Russian citizenship.
Source: Iryna Vereshchuk, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine
Quote from Vereshchuk: "Today, at a government meeting, the draft law on criminal liability for forced Russian ‘passportisation’ [forced issuance of Russian passports to civilians in Russian-occupied territories - ed.] was approved.
Unfortunately, international law does not contain any proper norms for countering illegal Russian ‘passportisation’ on the territory of Ukraine. Therefore, we must respond by strengthening criminal legislation.
By the way, such a law should have been adopted in 2014."
Details: Vereshchuk specified the essence of the legislative initiative:
- If a civil servant receives an enemy passport [direct lift from Vereshchuk’s Facebook feed - ed.], he will be imprisoned for 10 to 15 years.
- Propaganda of enemy citizenship is punished with imprisonment for a term of 5 to 8 years.
- Forcing Ukrainian citizens to obtain a Russian passport, which entails deprivation of liberty, may result in a prison term of 8 to 12 years.
- Сreating conditions under which failure to obtain a Russian passport will reduce the rights of a citizen of Ukraine or otherwise put him/her in a disadvantageous position [will lead to] 8 to 12 years of imprisonment.
In other words, it is about indirect coercion.
Quote: "These innovations are directed against civil servants with enemy passports, and against those who directly or indirectly contribute to Russian ‘passportisation’. This draft law does not apply to other persons.
The norms of the new draft law are aimed primarily at punishing the organisers of enemy ‘passportisation’ and their accomplices. Russian citizens who engaged in illegal ‘passportisation’ on the territory of Ukraine are subject to punishment [, too].
The Russian passport is an enemy weapon, and [it] must be destroyed on our territory."
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