Problems Of Defining The Concept Of Military Property As The Subject Of Military Criminal Offenses

Abstract

The concept of «military property» is investigated, and several shortcomings of its normative definition are identified. Based on the analysis of the Law of Ukraine «On the legal regime of property in the Armed Forces of Ukraine,» laws of Ukraine regulating the activities and legal status of other military formations, some bylaws contradictions were revealed regarding the recognition of the military property of the National Guard of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the State Service for Special Communication and Information Protection of Ukraine, as well as the property of the State Special Transport Service, in addition to the weapons and ammunition assigned to its units. In addition, the problem of interpretation of «the concept of «military property» is formed by the use in its normative definition of the phrase «assigned to...», which calls into question the recognition as military property, material property, property transferred as charitable assistance, property received as a result of economic activity, «trophy» property, etc. These problems may make it difficult to apply the norms on criminal liability provided for in articles 410-413 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The study also found that property may lose its military status if written off or alienated from the moment of approval or signing of the relevant official documents. At the same time, the write-off of property does not lead to the loss of its military status if, as a result of the write-off, it is transferred to another accounting category. Separate property is subject to write-off immediately after its transfer to use. Therefore, from the moment of such write-off, it loses its military status and cannot constitute the subject of criminal offenses provided for in articles 410-413 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Based on the study results, we propose to introduce amendments to regulatory legal acts regulating the legal regime of military property, which would extend their effect to all military formations created under the legislation of Ukraine. Changes to the normative definition of the «military property» concept are also proposed, which consist of recognizing any property in the records of a military formation or any property that has come into the possession of such a formation.