The Kyiv parliament on Wednesday adopted a bill that allows certain categories of prisoners to go and fight at the front in exchange for an amnesty, at a time when Ukraine is trying to mobilize more soldiers against Russian troops, reports AFP, according to Agerpres .
On Facebook, deputy Olena Şuliak, from the Servant of the People party of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, indicated that the text was adopted with 279 “yes” votes in the second reading. It is to be submitted to the head of the parliament, and then to the Ukrainian president.
Şuliak explained that the measure is addressed exclusively to voluntary detainees and the consent of the military authorities will be necessary after examining their physical and mental health.
Mobilization will not apply to prisoners convicted of certain serious crimes, especially “voluntary homicides of more than two people”, sexual violence, threats to national security or “serious” convictions for corruption, explained Olena Şuliak.
Persons convicted while holding important political positions will not be eligible for this measure.
These prisoners will serve in special units of the army, she added.
Also, the Ukrainian deputy indicated that only prisoners with a sentence of less than three years in prison could make such a request.
“We can survive in the conditions of a total war against an enemy that has more resources only by consolidating all our forces”, said Olena Şuliak.
After more than two years of resistance against a bloody Russian invasion, Ukraine is facing a shortage of soldiers and weapons in the face of a much larger and better equipped Russian army.
Moscow has already recruited tens of thousands of prisoners from its prison colonies to fight on the front in Ukraine.
Tags: Ukrainian parliament adopts bill categories prisoners fight front exchange amnesty
