Due to the war started by the Russian Federation, general mobilization and martial law continue in Ukraine. Men liable for military service from 18 to 60 years of age who receive summons are subject to conscription. Ukraine plans to mobilize convicts. The corresponding bill may be submitted to the Verkhovna Rada for consideration.. Deputy Minister of Justice Elena Vysotskaya told Suspilny which of the convicts will not be able to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

She noted that when developing a bill on the release of convicts for contract service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, ideas were discussed on which articles should set restrictions for the mobilization of prisoners. Thus, two groups of convicts have been identified who do not have the right to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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“In the discussions we held, there were a lot of ideas to limit those who expressed a desire, but still will not be able to join the ranks of the Armed Forces.. These are convicts who received their sentences under articles against national security, against the statehood of the country, collaborators, state traitors, and a whole group of other articles that have such a basis against statehood,” explained Vysotskaya.

Also, according to the official, the second group of convicts who will not be mobilized are persons whose crimes related to military service.

“That is, these are people who were one way or another in our army, but violated either the charter or their other duties and were convicted under these articles. This is an initiative of the military; these are the people who should not be returned if they have received and are serving their criminal sentence. Therefore, we are not dealing with these yet,” added the deputy minister..

Vysotskaya suggested that when considering the bill, other restrictions will be proposed.

“People’s deputies may have a different position, for example, to limit it to violent crimes or especially serious crimes. But we believed that it would be advisable to give the opportunity to absolutely all categories with the exception of these two, and practice will show,” she said.

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According to Vysotskaya, every convict will one way or another serve his sentence and be released, and our job is to correct him and resocialize him.

“Therefore, to say that at some stage of his term he cannot join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, because several decades ago, for example, he committed a terrible crime, is unfair. Because people correct themselves one way or another, change their views, worldview, their lives. Therefore, we considered it appropriate to give all other categories a chance and try to work in this format. But we’ll see what kind of consensus the people’s deputies come to,” she added..

The Deputy Minister also noted that there was no request from the military to limit the mobilization of prisoners convicted under other articles.

“It was the General Staff that did not have this, so we have an editorial board in which there are only two groups, that is, national security and war crimes, and the people’s deputies and, in principle, the experts with whom we discussed, had other approaches, for example.

Earlier, Minister of Justice Denis Malyuska said that the new law on mobilization should allow the mobilization of convicts and offenders who are not in prison. According to him, not all of the prisoners pose a threat to society or the army..