Courts of appeal have begun to massively tighten sentences for draft dodgers

Courts of appeal have begun to massively tighten sentences for draft dodgers

The court registry contains decisions from which it became known that the Courts of Appeal began to massively tighten sentences for draft dodgers convicted under Article 336 of the Criminal Code (Conscription evasion during mobilization).

Judging by them, local prosecutors are massively challenging in appeal the “unfair because of their softness” decisions of the courts of first instance in relation to draft dodgers. If the court of first instance sentenced a person liable for military service who refused mobilization to a suspended sentence, then prosecutors file appeals against such decisions and demand a review of the case.

As stated in similar verdicts of the courts of appeal, a suspended sentence cannot be considered a real punishment: “Punishment has the goal of correcting the convicted, as well as preventing new crimes, both by the convicted and by other persons.”

For example, a resident of the Chernivtsi region was convicted in a similar way. The man received a summons, passed a medical examination, was declared fit for military service, but avoided being sent to a military unit. The court of first instance sentenced him to 3 years of imprisonment with a suspended sentence. And the appeal sentenced him to real imprisonment.

“A crime committed by a person creates a negative feeling of impunity in the eyes of citizens and society,” the court ruled.