SEPARATE ISSUES OF THE PROBLEMS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE IN UKRAINE

Abstract

Today, there is a war in Ukraine, soldiers are dying, and civilians are also dying. During military operations, the activities of military personnel are determined by statutes and command orders. In addition, military personnel operate in a certain territory and their activities are aimed at countering the aggressor. On the one hand, military personnel must use all forces and means to destroy the enemy, but on the other hand, individual actions of military personnel may not comply with established norms and international documents in the field of military service. Military servicemen in Ukraine may commit both disciplinary and criminal offenses during their service. As for disciplinary violations, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have created a corresponding service, which is called the Military Service of Law and Order. However, if we examine the situation more carefully, we will see a number of shortcomings that do not allow us to actively influence the state of discipline among the personnel, secondly, the functions of the military law enforcement service are somewhat limited, thirdly, military justice is absent in most cases in Ukraine, which would clearly resolve the issue of criminal offenses committed by military personnel. Regarding military justice, which ceased to exist after 2012, the question of its revival has been raised more than once, but this issue has not been resolved. The reasons for the restoration of military justice are not clear, and the question of its restoration must be resolved, because the bloodiest war in the last 9 years is going on in Ukraine. The advantages of military justice and the use of military courts are obvious, we can cite a number of examples of states that are also involved in conflicts and, accordingly, have problems with both discipline and disciplinary and criminal offenses among military personnel. On the other hand, today the system of courts in Ukraine, which consider the issue of criminal responsibility of military personnel, to some extent does not meet the requirements that are put before it. Judges, with all due respect to their work, must hear cases related to military activities, but the judges themselves are overwhelmingly civilians. Military justice to a certain extent would become a complete system of military court proceedings, which should include military personnel of the Military Law and Order Service, the State Bureau of Investigation and military courts. In addition, military courts to a certain extent could form certain precedents for consideration of cases of criminal offenses by servicemen, which could be used in criminal proceedings. After all, the consideration of cases by civil judges, as well as the investigation of criminal misdemeanors and crimes conducted by the State Bureau of Investigation can also to some extent be done poorly. Of course, the question of reforming the judicial system is quite difficult, especially during the armed aggression of the Russian Federation, but it is necessary and to some extent it would contribute to the improvement of the activities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a whole. The purpose of the article is to highlight the problems related to military justice in Ukraine and to compare the judicial systems of some countries that have a fairly developed system of military justice and to develop proposals for its introduction in Ukraine.