Ukraine’s Justice Minister proposes conscripting convicted individuals from traffic accidents and corrupt officials
The Ukrainian authorities should conscript prisoners and offenders who are not currently serving sentences in prison, Justice Minister Denys Malyuska said in an interview with Ukrinform news agency on Feb. 20.
There should be fairness in the conscription matter, he said.
“We have few individuals who haven’t violated traffic rules,” Malyuska said.
“It’s nonsense to think that just because someone drove a car and someone else didn’t, the latter cannot be mobilized. Certainly, such individuals need to be mobilized. We’re talking about those who are not in prison. There are many of them. Some are in prison, but they don’t pose a real danger to society or the army.”
Malyuska also suggested that a similar approach could be applied to mobilizing corrupt officials since “they need to defend their reputation on the front lines.”
“The army isn’t just about artillery,” he said.
“There’s a lot of digging to do in many places. Grab a shovel, let’s dig. We provide, prepare food, carry, unload. A soldier has plenty of tasks to perform without weapons,” he added.
Thousands of Ukrainian citizens with criminal records, including those serving life sentences, have expressed a desire to join the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Malyuska said on Feb. 16.
It is not about how many individuals with criminal backgrounds are willing to join, he said on Feb. 14.
“No one is going to ask them,” Malyuska said.
“At least, that’s our position. It is the duty of every citizen to defend the state.”
Ukraine “should accelerate” the conscription of prisoners, Malyuska’s deputy, Olena Vysotska, said on Jan. 18.
Earlier, an NV’s source in the National Security and Defense Committee revealed that the then head of the Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, disagreed with some proposed provisions in the conscription bill discussed by participants.
“He opposed the provision on involving convicts and the convicted in the army,” NV’s source reported.
“He said, ‘Is the army for bad people? It’s not. But he also said, ‘I need people, the Russians have already called up 400,000 and by June they are preparing several hundred thousand more, up to 400,000. Who should I fight with? Either appeal to the world and ask for people there, or go fight if you can’t provide them.’”
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