Verkhovna Rada OKs new Criminal Code (04/15/01)

Verkhovna Rada OKs new Criminal Code

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Ukraine's Parliament took another decisive legislative step towards Europe and the West on April 5 when it approved a long-awaited new Criminal Code for the country to replace the Soviet laws still on the books. Legislators also moved to a final vote on new legislation to revamp criminal procedure and the relations between law enforcement officials and the court system.

Ironically, the parliamentary actions came the same day the monitoring committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) made an unexpected decision to propose to PACE's full membership that Ukraine should be ejected for failing to fulfill certain obligations it undertook when it joined in 1995, including new criminal, civil and associated procedural codes. (See story above.)

The new Criminal Code, overwhelmingly approved by a vote of 379-3, formalizes a February 2000 Verkhovna Rada decision to ban the death penalty and is the culmination of a two-year effort to write a comprehensive set of criminal statutes for post-Soviet Ukraine.

The code replaces capital punishment with life imprisonment as the severest penalty the courts can mete out to those who commit heinous crimes, but bars such sentences for juveniles, the elderly and pregnant women.

National Deputy Yurii Karmazyn, the chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Corruption and Organized Crime, who staunchly supported the bill, called some of its aspects revolutionary for a post-Soviet country, including a change in the Soviet practice of appropriating the property of a person convicted of a serious criminal offense.

"The new code will improve how society lives in Ukraine," said Mr. Karmazyn.

Another change is express juridical recognition that an accused is to be considered innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. The code also delineates limited responsibility for individuals proven to be unable to fully realize the consequences of their actions or who are found to be insane.

Another novel concept for Ukraine introduced by the new code is community service as a form of criminal punishment. A person convicted of lesser crime that qualifies for this form of punishment may serve his time during off-hours from work or during an unpaid leave of absence. The new code states that municipal administrative bodies are responsible for determining the sentences to be handed down for community service, which are to range from terms of 60 to 240 hours, but no more than four hours a day. For minors the range is from 30 to 120 hours and no more than two hours a day.

Oleksander Zadorozhnyi, another national deputy lauding the positive changes in the new law, which the president is expected to sign, said the law codifies economic crimes that did not exist in the Soviet Union, while eliminating Communist "crimes" such as "economic speculation," which the Soviets considered major violations of law.

The document also moves slander from a criminal to a civil offense and makes it illegal for government employees to hold a second job. These two changes will directly affect lawmakers in their work.

The same day it passed the monumental legislation on the Criminal Code, the Verkhovna Rada took a giant stride in changing archaic criminal procedure laws and modernizing the court system. The lawmakers approved a draft bill for a final reading, which will take all authorizations for search and seizures, including eavesdropping warrants, out of the hands of law enforcement bodies and put them within the authority of the courts. It will also address the rights of the arrested, another basic building block of a democratic society. The final version of the bill, incorporating approved amendments, will now be prepared for an as-yet-unscheduled final reading,

Although speculation has run rampant among politicians that President Leonid Kuchma, who expressed his dissatisfaction with some passages in the current bill, might eventually veto it, Ukraine's Supreme Court Chief Justice Vitalii Boiko said on April 11 that such a move would be dangerous because it could leave the court system outside the Constitution.

"We must be careful that the judicial system in place does not become illegal," said Judge Boiko.

When the Constitution of Ukraine was approved in June 1996, among the various stipulations within it delineating mandatory changes in the country's legislative base was one that demanded that within five years the Parliament must bring the criminal and civil procedure codes into line with the requirements of the country's fundamental law. That deadline is now just over two months away.

Surprisingly, even law enforcement officials sounded happy with the law as it currently looks when they spoke during a press conference that brought together representatives of all the leading law enforcement agencies and the court system.

"This is a very progressive statute that is much needed," said Volodymyr Melnyk, vice minister of internal affairs.

Lawmakers gave their approval for the legislation as the PACE monitoring committee agreed to move to an April vote to cancel Ukraine's membership for not fulfilling obligations. Although Ukraine has taken a lot of time in moving towards criminal, tort and procedural reform - changes PACE has pressed for years - most political experts in Ukraine believe the decision taken by the PACE monitoring committee on April 5 was simply a pressure tactic in response to complaints about the delays and problems associated with the investigation of the Gongadze affair and the associated tape scandal.

National Deputy Zadorozhnyi said he believes that Ukraine will have a new Civil Code by mid-May and new civil and criminal procedure laws by the end of June.

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