The Ministry of Justice explained that the mobilization of convicted murderers and rapists depends on the attitude of the military: if they do not want to have such a person in the unit, then they will not submit a petition to the court for his mobilization.
Deputy Minister of Justice Olena Vysotska stated this in a comment to LIGA.net.
According to Vysotska, the Ministry of Justice receives different positions from the military about the possible mobilization of criminals: some "absolutely condemn" it, while others "would take hundreds of prisoners and convicts."
The Deputy Minister of Justice noted that it is necessary to be careful in the mechanisms of who and how decides whether to mobilize such people or not.
At the same time, she emphasizes that the request of the military in this regard is mandatory.
"If they do not want to have such a person in the unit, are afraid of him or do not want to deal with him separately, we simply will not make the first decision and will not submit it to the court," Vysotska said.
According to the official, some commanders say that "they would take hundreds of prisoners and convicts." Vysotska explained that "crimes are also very different": from traffic accidents and crimes due to negligence to intentional murders and rapes.
"This mechanism is to be decided through the court, it currently does not exist. And the key here is the discussion in the parliament and the request of the military. Then you can analyze which categories are motivated and would really help the army. Then you can take feedback from the commanders. We can still choose from 26,000 people — according to various articles and parameters," she said.
The official noted that the draft law on mobilization will resolve this issue. When the law is adopted, it will be possible to immediately start working with the commanders in this direction and develop by-laws to implement the changes, the Ministry of Justice says.
Regarding how to regulate the provision of weapons to mobilized convicts, Vysotska said that the involvement of such people in the Armed Forces can "occur in various forms." According to her, even murder "can be committed under circumstances that are not repeated in the army."
"Of course, we can talk about a tendency to aggression. But for some time the penitentiary system worked with this person. And we have a reoffending risk assessment. We can use it to solve the issue of weapons. A person can be in the army, but at the same time not touch a weapon," Vysotska explained.
She also noted that the task of the state is to provide the prisoner with a punishment that will correct the person and adapt him to return to society.
"We see our work in correcting people, and thatʼs why we say that not every convict is dangerous," says Vysotska.
Why convicts are not mobilized
Currently, Ukrainian legislation prohibits the recruitment of not only convicts who are in prisons, but also those who have served their sentence and are at liberty to join the ranks of the Defense Forces.
In fact, criminals are kept out of combat because of fears of the violence they could potentially cause in the military.
At the same time, the Ministry of Justice says that at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, thousands of convicts applied to join the ranks of the Armed Forces. After that, a whole procedure was carried out to pardon some convicts so that they could join the army.
"Russia has been using convicts for many years. And has a whole system of their education, training, recruitment. This is a whole military machine that works. And now we are only at the stage of "letʼs pass the law on the possibility", Olena Vysotska said earlier in a comment to "Ukrainian Radio".