Desertion is fleeing from the battlefield.
Leaving a position without an order is desertion, meaning the abandonment of a combat zone without permission.
But what happens if you leave your military unit? For example, if you simply walked away, took leave, and never returned? This is called unauthorized absence from a military unit, or absent without leave(AWOL).
This is a completely different offense, and it is NOT desertion. Even in the most extreme case, under Part 3, it carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison. That is the harshest possible punishment!
Strangely, in neither case do records appear in police clearance certificates, which people request when applying for permanent residency in other countries – WHY?
If a person abandoned the battlefield, if they left their military unit without permission, why is there no record? And will there ever be one?
The answer is simple—there are between 100,000 and 150,000–200,000 absent without leave (AWOL) in Ukraine.
What is AWOL? Absent without leave – people who have gone AWOL and left their military units without permission.
The situation with them is very complex and difficult because there are so many of them. Even when they are detected at checkpoints or when crossing borders, there are not enough resources to deal with them. They are simply let go. They live freely, with no police or courts dealing with them.
What is the official procedure supposed to be?
There is a specialized prosecutor's office that prepares cases and handles the prosecution of each unauthorized absentee. Only after this military prosecution office (which is responsible for military offenses and assembling criminal cases) submits a case to a general jurisdiction court does the process begin. A verdict is issued within a few months, depending on whether the absentee (AWOL) is present or not.
Now pay attention! There is no separate court for such cases. This specialized prosecutor’s office barely handles these cases, or to be honest, does not handle them at all. As a result, these cases never make it to general jurisdiction courts at all, because the specialized prosecutor's office simply does not deal with these individuals.
If a person deserted from the battlefield, that is a separate criminal offense (tribunal) under the legal definition of desertion.
If a person left their military unit (for example, did not return from leave), no criminal records appear on police clearance certificates, because Ukraine, in practice, does not pursue such cases.
Oleksandra Melnykova, Immigration and Refugee Consultant in Canada.
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