Ukrainian MP Iryna Friz (the Bloc of Petro Poroshenko faction) has proposed criminalizing the call to disobedience and refusal by law enforcement officers and military personnel to fulfill a lawful order by their head.

The respective bill (No. 1295) on the introduction of amendments to the Criminal Code of Ukraine concerning the establishment of criminal responsibility for the call to disobedience was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on December 8, according to the parliament's website.

The author of the bill proposes expanding the Criminal Code of Ukraine with an article envisaging that the call to disobedience and the call to an open refusal by law enforcement officers or servicemen of the State Border Service of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the National Guard of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine to perform a lawful superior legal in the sphere of protecting the territorial integrity of Ukraine, the state border of Ukraine, the state sovereignty of Ukraine and countering armed aggression is punished by imprisonment for a term of up to three years.

At the same time, the actions committed by a group of persons or triggering serious consequences are punished by imprisonment for a term of three to seven years.

It is proposed that the same actions committed by law enforcement officers or servicemen of the State Border Service, the Armed Forces, the National Guard and the Security Service are punished by imprisonment for a term of five to eight years. The bill states that the call to disobedience committed amid martial law is punished by imprisonment for a term of eight to ten years.

The bill foresees that criminal liability arises only when the call to disobedience concerns a lawful superior order. Thus, the bill retains the possibility of avoiding liability in cases of calls related unlawful superior orders that are contrary to the Constitution of Ukraine.