Analytics

Paid, but not removed from the search: new traps for persons liable for military service

ANALYSIS

The President has signed into law draft law No. 12093, adopted by the Verkhovna Rada in March, which provides for a 50% discount on fines for persons liable for military service for violations of military registration if they voluntarily pay them. Ukrainians now have a chance to pay only UAH 8,500 instead of UAH 17,000 if they plead guilty and voluntarily enter into an agreement with the Military Criminal Court. In addition, the law will allow administrative cases on violations of military registration to be closed for those men who voluntarily went to serve. But, as in any situation, there are pitfalls along with the benefits, and that’s what Komersant ukrainskyi tried to find out.

According to the new law, a person liable for military service who has been brought to administrative responsibility will be able to apply to the authorized bodies and pay the imposed fine with a 50% discount within 10 days. To do so, an application must be submitted to the TCC stating that the person does not dispute the violation and agrees to be held administratively liable without personal presence. The application must be submitted in person in writing or through the electronic cabinet in the “Reserve” system. After that, the head of the TCC checks the application within three days and makes a decision on the case.

If the decision is positive, 50% of the fine must be paid within 10 days. Those who received a fine but went to serve are exempt from administrative liability.

According to the deputies, this is done to force all those liable for military service to register or update their data. According to their estimates, about 6 million Ukrainians have not yet done so. Increasing fines tenfold-from UAH 17,000 to UAH 25,500-has not improved the situation. Therefore, they decided to stimulate conscripts, persons liable for military service and reservists with “discounts” – to pay only 50% of the fine. They say that it was the large amounts of fines that deterred people from applying to the TCC.

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Payment of a fine does not guarantee removal from the wanted list

However, the incentive to appear in the TCC is a bit overdone, says lawyer Roman Likhachev. On the contrary, fines are issued to those who do appear in the TCC. “A fine is not issued in absentia, because if a person decides to appeal it, it will turn out that he or she did not know that he or she was being held liable. And this is grounds for canceling the fine in court.

“In fact, fines are issued to those who come for a deferral. This is already a common practice. And in such a situation, it is easier to pay UAH 8,500 rather than UAH 17,000. The law does not say anything about the possibility of getting a discount when you are brought to justice again – most likely not. However, this law will not help those who already have fines from the TCC – they must pay 100% of the amount. And one more thing: it is not yet possible to submit an application online through Reserve – the function has not yet appeared,”

– explains Roman Likhachev in an exclusive commentary .

Moreover, the law does not specify whether a person will be removed from the wanted list after paying a fine and clarifying their data. “Oberig” is a system registry, and “Reserve” is just a monitor that displays information from “Oberig”. Who, when, and how should update the data in Oberig? It is not clear whether the documents should be submitted to the police for removal from the wanted list. And where there is no responsibility, problems begin, the lawyer emphasizes.

“A person has paid a fine – who and how should verify that they have done so? How should it be recorded? There are cases when a soldier appealed a fine for failure to appear in court, he is now at the front, but his card was blocked. When we looked into it, it turned out that the TCC had submitted documents to the executive service, despite the court’s decision. And there are many such cases. Although the law states that active military personnel are not subject to fines, who will check that a person is really serving?”

– says Likhachev.

Fines should be appealed

According to lawyer Oleh Leontiev, the purpose of the law is to make people pay fines automatically. Without appealing and without thinking.

“I believe that this law is wrong and legally imperfect, because a person is actually deprived of access to justice. Now, only the decision of the head of the TCC is enough to bring someone to justice. And this is despite the fact that the sanctions are high – equal to criminal ones. Moreover, for some criminal offenses, the fine is lower! Often people are afraid, don’t know their rights and don’t even realize that they can appeal the fine and not pay anything at all – just by seeking legal assistance,”

– says Leontiev.

If a person believes that he or she is being illegally prosecuted, he or she must defend his or her rights in court. And, as the lawyer emphasizes, it is not up to the citizen to prove his innocence, but to the law enforcement agencies to prove his guilt. They have to explain why they issued a fine. But if they don’t, you plead guilty and pay the fine.

“And one more thing. A person was held liable for failure to appear, paid 50% of the fine, but this does not guarantee that the TCC will not issue a new summons. And if he fails to appear again, he will be fined again. And so on and so forth. Yes, they have no right to prosecute for the same thing twice, but we are talking about the same actions in different periods,”

– summarizes Oleg Leontiev.

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Author: Alla Dunina