President sets up advisory council to ensure rights of Ukraine's defenders

A decree to that effect, No. 93/2021 of March 12, has been posted on the website of the head of state.

Zelensky made the decision to establish the advisory body, taking into account social tension and public demand for access to justice and objective consideration of criminal proceedings and court decisions in the cases of the defenders of Ukraine. Human rights activists and MPs also called for the creation of the advisory council at the President's Office to ensure the rights and fundamental freedoms of persons who participated in the defense of Ukraine. The president, as the supreme commander-in-chief and the guarantor of the Constitution, signed the respective decree and supported the idea of creating such an advisory body.

According to Aliona Verbytska, the head of the advisory council, the body at the President's Office is being created to defend the rights of the people who defended the state. Thousands of volunteers have gone to defend Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian armed aggression. Some of them fell victim to imperfect Ukrainian legislation - hundreds of volunteers were imprisoned and convicted of war crimes under peacetime laws. There are now examples of lawsuits in which an attempt has been made to sentence a person to more than ten years in prison.

"A European rule-of-law state is, first and foremost, a state in which the rule of law and equality before the law prevail. It so happened that for a long time since the beginning of the armed aggression in eastern Ukraine, the annexation of Crimea, some circumstances have not been taken into account and relevant laws have not been passed to protect the rights of servicepersons and volunteer fighters who participated in the defense of Ukraine," she said.

In such cases, there are circumstances that require additional analysis, more in-depth study, and this is why the advisory council is being created, Verbytska said.

According to her, the council will include MPs, representatives of executive authorities, defense agencies, human rights activists and public figures. It will also be possible to involve governmental and non-governmental organizations, including international ones, in obtaining assistance and advice.

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