Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Return of military courts in Ukraine?

Ukraine News Agency reports:
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko plans to propose the restoration of special military courts, according to current international practice, since military experts, rather than civilian experts, should evaluate the actions of military commanders in a combat situation. 
"First of all, being a commander-in-chief, I can not remain silent after the verdict of one of the civil courts that sentenced the military general [Viktor Nazarov] to serve seven years imprisonment term," Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday. 
He noted that over the past three years the Ukrainian army has brought up a new generation of "self-motivated, and sometimes desperate commanders who provide defense for our Ukraine." 
"It would be foolish to restrain them with judicial decisions from the point of view of ensuring the defense capability and security. That's exactly why I plan to propose the restoration of special military courts in accordance with existing international practices. 
Military experts, military professionals and military judges, rather than civilians, should evaluate the actions of commanders in a combat situation. At least, now, while this terrible insidious hybrid war is going on," the president said. 
"Justice, of course, must be achieved at court, but the decisions of military courts will not be put in doubt by our soldiers," the president said. 
He noted that the Ukrainian military fulfill their duty to protect Ukraine, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. "I understand the grief of the families. But the enemy who has treacherously invaded our land is truly responsible for the death of our heroes. The only justification for these deaths is the approach of an inevitable victory," Poroshenko wrote. 
As earlier reported, on March 27 Pavlohradsky court found guilty and sentenced to a seven-year jail term Ukrainian General Viktor Nazarov, who was charged with dereliction of duty leading to the crash of the Il-76 military transport plane of the Armed Forces of Ukraine during the summer of 2014. 
As it was reported, during the night of June 14, 2014 a hand-held rocket launcher fired at the transport plane as it was landing at Luhansk airport. There were 40 Ukrainian servicemen aboard and nine members of the plane's flight crew. All died. 
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine created a special commission to look into the reasons for the crash. General Nazarov was thereafter served a notice of suspicion that he bore responsibility.

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