Ukrainian Parliament permits voluntary mobilisation of prisoners and determines who may not serve

The Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament) has backed a bill in the second reading that would allow the voluntary mobilisation of certain categories of prisoners.

Source: a comment for Ukrainska Pravda from Olena Shuliak, one of the initiators of the bill, leader of the Servant of the People party and Chair of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on the Organisation of State Power, Local Self-Government, Regional Development and Urban Planning; a statement by MP Yaroslav Zhelezniak

Details: 279 MPs voted in favour of the bill (No. 11079-1).

Shuliak told Ukrainska Pravda that the following will not be eligible to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine: those who have committed premeditated murder, rapists and paedophiles, corrupt officials, those who have committed crimes against the foundations of Ukraine's national security, and those who have held a particularly responsible position, including MPs and ministers.

Persons convicted of the illegal production, acquisition, distribution or possession of drugs will also not be permitted to serve in the Armed Forces. 

Shuliak added that all other prisoners who could potentially be mobilised would be subject to the same condition: they must have no more than three years of their sentence left to serve.

"Prisoners who have a longer period left to serve in prison – and those sentenced to life imprisonment all the more so – will be immediately rejected without the right of reconsideration," she said.

Should a person released on parole to serve in the Armed Forces reoffend while serving, the unspent part of their previous sentence will be added to the new sentence.

The decision on whether a prisoner may be released on parole for mobilisation will be made solely by the court, based on the approval of the medical board, the enlistment office, and the military unit where the person will serve.

"As military personnel, former prisoners will serve exclusively in specialised military units; the Ministry of Defence is determining the procedure for establishing such units. Administrative supervision of such persons [probation] will be carried out by the commander of the military unit in which they serve. Persons subject to administrative supervision will be registered separately in the military unit," Shuliak emphasised.

The law provides that such servicemen’s contracts will expire either at the end of the special period of military service or upon the announcement of a decision to demobilise. Such servicemen will not be granted leave.

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