The Main Department of Military Justice of the Defence Ministry is involved in the development of a draft law on the military police of Ukraine, reports the press service of the Defence Ministry.
It is noted that the military police "should become a military formation with law enforcement functions and will be part of the system of the Defence Ministry of Ukraine."
The military police will be created on the basis of the Military Law Enforcement Service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They will be given certain powers of operational and search activities and pre-trial investigations of war crimes in the combat zone.
The aim is to maintain discipline among the military personnel of the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence and the State Special Transport Service (SSTS).
The main tasks of the military police include: law enforcement activities to prevent, detect, and suppress war crimes in accordance with the Criminal Procedure Code and military regulations; operational and investigative activities; special prevention in the Armed Forces and the State Special Transport Service; ensure law, order and military discipline in the Armed Forces and the State Special Transport Service; protection the rights of servicemen; protection of state property; and execution of sentences.
Currently, a working group is functioning on the basis of the Parliamentary Committee on Law Enforcement to create a working model of military justice, of which the Military Police will become a part. The draft law is currently under approval.
It is intended to achieve compatibility of the military police with the relevant structures of NATO member states.
Back in 2019, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the Ministry of Defence should create the Military Police.
At the beginning of last year, the Internal Ministry and the relevant parliamentary committee discussed the creation of a military police. This happened after a shooting in Dnipro by the National Guard.