Venislavskyi: Confiscation of cars will not violate human rights

Venislavskyi: Confiscation of cars will not violate human rights

On April 11, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved the long-suffering bill on mobilization in the second reading. 283 parliamentarians voted in favor. Now the document must be signed by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and the President of Ukraine, after which it will come into force.

The absence of an amendment on demobilization in the document caused a great stir in society. Why was it withdrawn, what other amendments might outrage the public, will it contradict the Constitution, in particular, the rule on depriving the right to drive a car for those liable for military service who evade military service - these and other questions were commented on in an exclusive interview by the People’s Deputy of Ukraine, Candidate of Legal Sciences , member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defence and Intelligence Fedir Venislavskyi.

– Why was the demobilization amendment withdrawn?

– Due to the fact that the subject of the right of legislative initiative – the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine – made a decision and sent letters, which you can already find, they were sent to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, with a request to remove these issues and instruct the government to develop a separate bill related to dismissal.

I would not use the term “demobilization” here; it is not used at all in war conditions, since demobilization is the transfer of everything to a peaceful manner, and until the end of the war we can only talk about additional grounds for dismissal from military service of certain categories of military personnel who carried out combat missions for a certain period of time. Therefore, in this law, we instructed the Cabinet of Ministers to develop and submit to parliament an appropriate law that will regulate the issue of dismissal of combatants from military service.

– How significantly has the law changed? What reasonable amendments were approved and which of them may cause a sharp reaction in society?

– I think that the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, having summarized all the legislative proposals, formulated amendments that are very unlikely to cause a resonance in society. After all, if you look at the voting results, 30 out of 31 amendments were supported by the constitutional majority in parliament, that is, 320-340 people’s deputies voted for them, and only the issues of dismissal from military service were perceived differently and 227 votes were cast for this.

In my opinion, this is precisely what reflects the real mood in society. People, in simple words, of course, want their family and friends to return home from the front, but while we are waging a war for our actual self-preservation, us as a state, as a statehood, as the people of Ukraine and the nation, it is now premature to talk about dismissal, therefore such a decision was made.

In general, all the amendments are quite balanced, they will significantly improve this bill and ensure, first of all, the completeness of registration of those liable for military service in the relevant registers, so that we, as a state, understand who can be called up for military service, who cannot, who has the right to deferment, who is reserved, whose health condition does not allow to serve, etc. Therefore, it is for this purpose that we have provided for the need to update the personal data of those liable for military service within 60 days.

– In your opinion, the ban on conscripts evading military service from driving a vehicle and the rule on confiscating a car are not a violation of the Constitution of Ukraine and human rights?

– Human rights are not violated here in any way, because the Constitution of Ukraine allows for the restriction of the rights and freedoms of man and citizen, in particular, I would like to draw your attention, in matters of ownership and use, disposal of one’s property. The state may limit this right under martial law. Therefore, a temporary restriction of the right to manage property does not go beyond the norms permitted by the Constitution. There are no problems with this.

There are also no problems with the seizure of vehicles. We are talking about either temporary seizure or permanent seizure, but with compensation for the cost of these vehicles. This rule, in fact, exists in the current law on mobilization, which provides for the possibility of mobilizing vehicles of enterprises, organizations and citizens.

In this law, we specified that if a vehicle is the only source of a person’s livelihood or it is the only vehicle a person has, then it cannot be confiscated. But if there is more than one vehicle, if they can potentially be adapted to perform security and defense sector tasks, then they can be seized. But we are talking exclusively about specific vehicles, that is, a regular passenger car is not needed for the Armed Forces. We are talking about trucks that are suitable for transporting ammunition, personnel, and special equipment that can operate in off-road conditions. Therefore, I think that 90% of citizens definitely do not need to worry about these standards that we have clarified.

– So they won’t take away cars?

– Here we need to approach it a little differently. In order for us to ask the question about the possibility of mobilizing vehicles, we need to understand which vehicles are subject to mobilization. The armed forces determine what vehicles they need, then, within the limits of these needs, mobilization orders are formed in specific administrative-territorial units in the regions and registered with the Territorial Center for Acquisition and Social Support and can be withdrawn. But this does not mean that they will necessarily be confiscated. There are definitely no such needs for passenger vehicles.

– The norm that men from 18 to 60 years old will be able to perform consular actions abroad only if they have military registration documents - how quickly can this be implemented?

– Firstly, here we need to reassure all citizens of Ukraine temporarily staying or living in other countries. No obligations that would arise for these citizens after updating or receiving military registration documents upon return to Ukraine are not established by this law, and such mechanisms are, in principle, very difficult to imagine. It is important for us that citizens of Ukraine who belong to the category of those liable for military service and living abroad update their personal data. Because a person can live abroad, but messages and summonses are sent to him at addresses registered with the TRC. The state spends time, material and human resources to inform a person who, in principle, cannot be informed, since he is not in this city.

If a person, while abroad, receives a military registration document remotely, he can do this by email, by phone, through the consulate during updating, in case of receiving consular services. Therefore, there are no problems here, and there will be no negative consequences for these people.

– Is it true that a summons will be considered received if it is thrown in a mailbox? Will this only apply to the requirement to update your data in the TRC?

– There is a requirement to update your personal data in the TRC. If this requirement is not met, it will be sent to the mailbox and will be considered to have properly informed the person. Because in this law we have provided that within 60 days every citizen of Ukraine from 18 to 60 years of age is obliged to update his personal military registration data in the TCC SP. Therefore, in essence, the message in this aspect will definitely not violate human rights in any way or the person will be able to appeal if he did not arrive on time.

There are 60 days, everyone - I, as a people’s deputy, your fellow male journalists, civil servants, officials at all levels - are obliged to update their personal data. As for the summons, the summons is handed over as it was handed over - against a signature confirming delivery.

Therefore, there will be no negative consequences if the summons is thrown in the box, it is not considered proper receipt of the summons.

– How will the electronic account of a person liable for military service work? Does he fully replace the arrival at TRC SS?

– The state is interested in creating an electronic office for those liable for military service. For now, this is a voluntary procedure, that is, we give a person a choice, if he wants, he registers this electronic account. But representatives of the Ministry of Defence and I said that the state should actually join in the creation of these electronic offices for each person liable for military service, so that the entire database is already digitized.

If a person comes to update his personal data, then this is also one of the elements of creating an electronic database of military personnel, conscripts and reservists, the law on which has already been in force for 10 years. Therefore, the electronic account is voluntary, it is an alternative to physically coming to the TRC SS to update data, a person remotely from anywhere in Ukraine or the world, if we are talking about staying abroad, can update his data, and he will fulfill the requirement of the law.

– What punishments will there be for those who evade?

– This is not the subject of our committee, and we did not consider these issues in this bill. The Law Enforcement Committee, in parallel with the consideration of our bill by our committee, reviewed and recommended to the Verkhovna Rada, and in the first reading they adopted a bill on strengthening administrative liability, which will raise the level of fines for failure to appear at the TRC SS and for failure to update your personal data. Therefore, in this case, administrative liability will apply. If a person evades military duty, then criminal liability will still apply. But the issue of tightening liability is a matter for the law enforcement committee, they are working on it. As soon as the bill is fully ready for the second reading, then we will be able to talk about this in more detail.

– In your opinion, will the president sign this bill? When will it come into effect?

– The law will come into force the next day after its signing. The President, I think, will definitely sign the bill. As I have already said, almost all legislative amendments were approved by the constitutional majority. The law itself was passed with a sufficient number of votes. Moreover, the president’s position has been voiced more than once. I think there is no reason not to sign this bill.

Moreover, the president may not sign the bill and return it to parliament if it contradicts the Constitution. We tried to take into account all the requirements of the Constitution as fully as possible. That’s why I don’t see a problem here.

– I think this should happen in the very short term. Some of our political opponents stated that they would register a resolution prohibiting signing and sending it to the president due to the fact that the issues of dismissal from military service were not taken into account. If this happens, these resolutions must first be rejected, then signed by the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and sent to the President for signature. Therefore, it is difficult to give a time frame here, but I think that this will be a very short-term perspective, that is, a maximum of a week - 10 days and the law will be signed.