President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a law defining probation supervision as a new and main type of criminal punishment, replacing arrest in most sanctions.

As noted in the card of bill No. 9185, posted on the Verkhovna Rada website, the document was returned to parliament with the signature of the head of state on September 26.

As reported, the Verkhovna Rada adopted bill No. 9185 as a whole on August 23, 2023.

Probation supervision provides for a comprehensive influence on the offender without isolation from society for a period of one to five years (one to two years for minors).

The co-authors of the legislative initiative propose to supplement the sanctions of articles of the Special Part of the Criminal Code of Ukraine with punishment in the form of probation supervision as an alternative to restriction of freedom. At the same time, MPs consider it necessary to replace arrest with probationary supervision in all sanctions, except for criminal offenses committed by military personnel.

The bill stipulates punishment in the form of probation supervision will consist of restricting the rights and freedoms of the convicted person, defined by law and established by a court verdict, with the use of supervisory and social and educational measures.

In addition, the document proposes to determine the procedure for serving a sentence in the form of probation supervision. Control over its compliance is entrusted to the authorized probation authorities at the place of residence of the convicted person.

According to the bill, the term of punishment in the form of probation supervision will be calculated from the date the convicted person is registered. In this case, according to the rules provided for in Article 72 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the period of punishment includes the time of pretrial detention or 24-hour house arrest.

The need to introduce probation supervision as a new and main type of criminal punishment is justified by the fact that under martial law, pretrial detention facilities should be optimized, in particular, by increasing the number of places by eliminating arrest houses, including those for holding prisoners of war. In such cases, restriction of freedom and arrest as types of punishment lose their criminal legal and social purposes and require significant financial costs.