Justice minister reveals details of plan to mobilize certain categories of convicts

That’s according to Minister of Justice Denys Maliuska, who spoke on the air of the national telethon, Ukrinform reports.

"We propose that certain categories (of convicts - ed.) be excluded, we are currently in consultations with the military. For example, the latter are not too happy with the idea of having those who have committed crimes related to military service released as they have already caused trouble while in the army. We are not talking about deserters, it’s about those who committed crimes while already in military service. Such a category will be ruled out. Those who committed crimes against the state, like traitors, will also be off the table. However, in other cases, it is quite possible to engage such a contingent, many of them are patriots," Maliuska noted.

The Minister of Justice also said that a mechanism for the mobilization of convicts is currently being worked out before being submitted to parliament. He explained the need for such a mechanism by the fact that convicts released from serving their sentences at the outset of the full-scale invasion were supposed to join the Army ranks but not all of them did.

"The new mechanism will provide that we will hand people directly from penitentiaries to draft offices,” Maliuska explained, adding that convicts released under this procedure will once again face prison if they commit another crime.

He expressed hope that the number of draftees from among convicts could reach thousands.

"We won’t be talking about hundreds, it will be thousands. I expect that the law will pass quite quickly, with no opposition, as there are practically no opponents of the idea. Everyone understands that convicts can and should be drafted, given that they themselves are ready to defend their Homeland. It’s everyone's duty. The question is only about the mechanism. That’s for someone not to abuse the scheme by pretending they want to join the Army and then go loose or bribe someone and enlist only on paper. To avoid this, we agreed on the text with the military and colleagues in government. It seems we came to the proposal that we are ready to table in parliament in order to attract convicts to Army ranks," said Maliuska.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, on February 7, the Verkhovna Rada adopted at first reading the bill amending the existing practice of military mobilization. Lawmakers have since filed a total of 4,195 amendments to the new legislation.

The Parliamentary Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence on Feb 27 launched work on the draft ahead of the second reading.

Committee Secretary Colonel Roman Kostenko noted that the Verkhovna Rada will consider the draft law on mobilization no earlier than the second half of March.

Earlier, Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said that the new draft law on mobilization rules has a number of contradictory norms.