Changes to the amnesty law are being prepared

A draft law providing for the introduction of significant changes to the current law “On the Application of Amnesty” has been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration. The developers of the document consider the cancellation of the right to amnesty for those persons against whom a verdict has not yet been rendered at the time of its announcement to be the most important change. The parliamentary committee on combating organized crime and corruption believes that this norm may overload investigative and judicial bodies with the consideration of cases of minor crimes, even though those who committed them will still fall under the amnesty.

Draft law #4179 “On amending the law of Ukraine ‘On the Application of Amnesty’” was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on 10 March. One of its developers, the chairman of the parliamentary committee on legislative support for law enforcement activities, People's Deputy Viktor Shvets (BYuT), believes that the introduction of these changes will allow speaking “about a new version of the currently active law #392/96 ‘On the Application of Amnesty’, adopted back on 1 October 1996”.

Viktor Shvets considers the cancellation of the right to amnesty for those persons against whom a verdict has not yet been rendered at the time of the amnesty's announcement to be the most important change. “Now, those accused whose cases are under the jurisdiction of inquiry bodies, pre-trial investigation, or the court can fall under the amnesty. This is a direct violation of the Constitution – a person is amnestied even before being found guilty,” explained Viktor Shvets.

In addition, the authors of the draft law propose to expand the list of categories of convicts to whom the amnesty cannot be applied. In particular, this concerns persons who have committed crimes of medium gravity and have served less than half of their sentence, as well as those who were convicted of accepting a bribe, abuse of power and official authority, crimes in the field of drug trafficking, and violation of traffic rules that resulted in the death of the victim or grievous bodily harm.

Let us recall that, according to current legislation, citizens guilty of committing crimes against national security, terrorist acts, banditry, and intentional murder do not fall under the amnesty. Those convicted of committing another intentional serious or especially serious crime can count on an amnesty only after serving half of the punishment imposed by the court. However, the developers of the draft law propose to increase this period to two-thirds of the punishment.

Commenting on the draft law, the deputy chairman of the VR committee on combating organized crime and corruption, Mykola Dzhiga (Party of Regions), noted that the Ukrainian legal system is not yet ready for such innovations. “If the crime is minor, the person has admitted their guilt, the investigation has proven their guilt – the case can be terminated under an amnesty even before the investigation is completed,” stated Mr. Dzhiga to Kommersant. According to him, in case of the law's adoption, it will be necessary to bring the investigation into each of such cases to an end and then transfer them to court. “There is no need to overload investigators, judges, and prosecutors if the accused will still fall under the amnesty after this,” the People's Deputy believes.