A number of regulators are against the adoption of draft law # 2079 on the repeal of Article 391 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: the State Criminal Enforcement Service, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. Expert of the Reanimation Package of Reforms Coalition, Mikhail Serebryakov, said this on the air of Rada TV Channel.
Article 391 of the Criminal Code provides for up to 3 years of additional imprisonment for prisoners for disobedience to prison administration. In the absolute majority of cases, it is simply a refusal to clean the camera or other non-violent disciplinary misconduct. In other words, an administrative offense involves criminal liability.
The main reason for the rejection of the draft law # 2079 by the executive authorities is the fear of prison riots after the abolition of Article 391 of the Criminal Code. But these fears have no real basis, as prison riots are punished by Article 392 of the Criminal Code, Serebryakov stated.
Article 391 of the Criminal Code has become a blackmailing tool for the prison administration to extort money from the families of prisoners and forcing prisoners into slave labor. This article is one of the largest corruption schemes in the penitentiary system.
“The nature of corruption in penitentiary institutions is clear: current funding of UAH 5 billion a year is not enough to pay the salary to prison officers. Therefore, the desire to protect such corruption schemes is understandable, ”says an expert of the RPR Coalition.
According to him, Article 391 of the Criminal Code can be applied to the prisoner an unlimited number of times. That is theoretically a petty thief can spend his entire life behind bars as murderers and rapists.
In a view of this public organizations issued an open statement calling on the Verkhovna Rada to abolish Article 391 of the Criminal Code.