“Photo: 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade The servicemen who voluntarily left their military units had less than a month to think about it. Until January 1, 2025, they have a chance to voluntarily return and resume service with the preservation of benefits, security and social guarantees. Such a law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on November 21 and signed by the president a few days ago. Currently, the SZH is called one […]”, — write: businessua.com.ua
Photo: 47th separate mechanized brigade
The servicemen who voluntarily left their military units had less than a month to think about it. Until January 1, 2025, they have a chance to voluntarily return and resume service with the preservation of benefits, security and social guarantees. Such a law was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada on November 21 and signed by the president a few days ago.
Currently, the SZH is called one of the most painful problems of the Ukrainian army. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Office the Prosecutor General registered about 60,000 criminal proceedings and about 30,000 regarding desertion based on this fact. The lion’s share of cases falls on 2024. These are only official data, unofficially they say that the real figure may exceed 100 thousand, because not all facts reach the investigation or the investigation does not have enough hands. Meanwhile, the General Staff admits that it is more effective to return already trained people to the ranks than to “busify” the untrained on the streets.
Who is covered by the above-mentioned benefit, what are the reasons that push people to commit war crimes and what can be expected of them after their return – the journalist investigated Briefly about.
Two laws: let’s understand what the difference isCurrently, there are two laws in force in Ukraine that regulate voluntary return from the SZH. The first – number 3902-IX – was adopted by the Council on August 20, 2024 and entered into force in September, the second – introduced the rule “until January 1, 2025”. Both apply to those who leave a military unit for the first time without the permission of the commander or desert, and provide for exemption from criminal punishment for doing so.
– The new law, which entered into force in November, amends the Law “On Military Duty and Military Service”. If the serviceman returns to the unit before January 1, the commander must renew the contract with him within 72 hours. However, this new law does not solve the issue of criminal cases, if they are already open, so it will have to be solved according to the old law, says lawyer Nataliya Feshchyk.
The lawyer gives an example:
– If a military man went to the SZCH in October of this year and they did not have time to open a criminal case against him, he calmly returns and is reinstated in all rights. Everything is decided at the level of the military unit. If the case has already been opened or is in court, as in the case of one of my clients, then the military also has the right to use the period set aside for return and renewal, but something will have to be decided with the case – either lead it to closure, or it may be that the person wants to listen acquittal.
The so-called first law – on the decriminalization of SZH – provides for a slightly different, more complicated procedure for exemption from punishment. The suspect or the defendant must declare his intention to return to the army in writing to the prosecutor, investigator or court and obtain the consent of the commander of the military unit – his own or another, in which he wants to serve from now on.
If none of the commanders wants to take in the fugitive, then there will be no other option but to wait for the verdict and go to prison. For SZH, the penalty is from 5 to 10 years of imprisonment, for desertion – from 5 to 12 years. The law adopted in December 2022 does not allow for these articles to reduce the lower limit of punishment, to impose a suspended term or to enter into a plea agreement with the investigation.
– This procedure will apply to those who do not take advantage of the right to a preferential month or go to the SZCH after January 1, – explains the lawyer.
According to the official information of the General Staff, the laws on the decriminalization of SZCH have already returned 6,000 soldiers to the ranks of the Armed Forces.
Serhiy Gniezdilov, who voluntarily left a part to draw attention to the problem, continues to be detained. Photo: Social News/Daria Nematian Zolbin
Exhaustion, diseases, arbitrariness of commandersIn 2024, the number of SZH tripled compared to 2022. The main reasons are called forced mobilization, when the “busified” flee from the army almost in the first days, and the physical and nervous exhaustion of the fighters, who have been in the combat zone for a long time. Constant stress, short vacations and a “one way ticket”. In September of this year, the country was stirred up by the action of Serhiy Hniezdilov, the commander of the air reconnaissance department of the 56th separate motorized infantry brigade of Mariupol, who defiantly went to the SZCH to draw attention to the indefinite terms of mobilization.
– There can be dozens of reasons for SZH, and the fear of death is not the main thing, although it is always present in everyone, – says serviceman Vyacheslav K. – Someone’s wife cheated on someone, someone was not given leave when a child was born or the mother was ill, someone was not allowed to receive treatment. Some people do not have enough money to solve their problems. It seems to civilians that the military is showered with hryvnias. And in fact, even those who are at “zero” can be paid not 100 thousand, but 50 or 60 thousand. They explain that you don’t sit there for a month, but go to work and leave. And if we talk about 100,000, then in this war, the soldiers’ need for equipment goes far beyond this amount, because they are collecting all the time for REBs, Mavics or car repairs. I know a lot of people who got into loans in order to somehow continue to serve.
And they openly say and write about the stupidity, imprudence, cruelty of individual commanders. When in the first edition of the draft law on the decriminalization of SZCH, the norm was prescribed that the military must return to his unit, it caused a wave of criticism. Fortunately, she was taken into account, allowing to move to another part. The leading brigades, in particular, the 1st OSHB named after da Vinci and the 93rd OMBR “Kholodny Yar” have launched their recruiting campaigns for those who want to return from the NWZ.
“Guys are coming back, but we don’t take all of them”- The boys are coming back. Less than we expected, but they are coming back, shared with Briefly about t. in. at. chief sergeant of “Cold Yar” Vitaly. – It’s true, and we don’t take everyone who voluntarily left the service. We conduct a conversation with each person separately, find out the reasons for the offense, communicate with the commanders and sergeants of the units from which the person left. Let’s look at her herself: does she inspire confidence, does she deliberately return to the Armed Forces, and not just to close a criminal case. The circumstances of SZCH are different. From banal lateness with holidays or treatment for psychological breakdowns. There were those who were told: return, but not to our brigade.
Judging by the comments on the new laws on social networks, many are afraid that those who have been fined will be thrown “for meat”, that is, in the most dangerous places, no matter who they served before.
– About 70 percent of those we returned from the SZH had infantry experience. And we did not send them to the infantry. They were retrained as operators of unmanned aerial vehicles and high-precision weapons. This is to eliminate traumatic experience and make fighters effective in other positions. Such people know what the infantry is going through, and understand how it should be supported and covered so that people survive and return, – Vitaly explains.
The military says that the brigade started recruiting from the SZCH according to the law that came into force in September.
– The only thing is that I would like a clearer mechanism for returning to another part to be developed. Each serviceman receives certain property, weapons. All those whom we returned had certain property debts: something the person did not pay, something needs to be done in accounting, something should be written off. To simply transfer a soldier from one brigade to another, he needs to receive a food and property certificate from his previous place of service. And where there are SZCH, they are not very eager to give them. Only individual spare parts have the right to claim. And those who return must stay in those parts for a certain time. It can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months before a soldier is assigned to another brigade.
By the way, the General Staff promises that those who will use the right “before January 1” and rejoin their units will also be enrolled in the reserve, and then transferred to other places of service.
Source: kp.ua