Soldiers from among the pardoned convicts commit crimes already within the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — media

Soldiers from among the pardoned convicts commit crimes already within the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — media

Dozens of former prisoners who were released from colonies to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine have reoffended during their service.

This is reported by the "Judicial-Legal Newspaper" with reference to the Unified Register of Court Decisions.

It concerns the "Shkval" unit, formed from former convicts who received the chance of early release in exchange for participating in combat actions. The register contains about 70 verdicts against servicemen of this unit, as well as approximately the same number of cases pending in court or in the process of pre-trial investigation.

Among the most common crimes are: refusal to obey orders, unauthorized leaving of the unit, theft, and illegal possession of drugs.

One example is Serhiy P., who was sentenced to 5.5 years for grievous bodily harm. He was released at the end of May 2024, still having a year left to serve. By September, he refused to take a combat position in the Donetsk region. For this, he was sentenced to another 5 years of imprisonment plus a year for the previous sentence.

Amid the full-scale war, Ukraine allowed amnesty for certain categories of convicts in exchange for service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.