Donetsk, Mar 29 - DAN. Ukraine’s Criminal Code envisions penalties for the crimes committed by Ukrainian President Petr Poroshenko and his accomplices to as far as life imprisonment, prosecutor Sergey Kozhemyakin of the Ukrainian People’s Tribunal for investigating the Poroshenko regime crimes against Ukrainian citizens told the Donetsk News Agency on Thursday.

“Petr Poroshenko and his abettors have been charged with the use of Ukrainian armed forces against the Donbass population,” the lawyer said. “A number of Ukrainian Criminal Code articles envision responsibility for the committed acts.”

Kozemyakin named the following Ukrainian Criminal Code articles and the penalties they carry:


  • Article 27, Part 3, items 1, 2, 5, 12 and 14, Article 115, Part 2, masterminding premeditated hate murder of two or more people including minors by a life-threatening method in collusion with a group of persons (punished by ten to 15 years in prison or life sentence).

  • Article 27, Part 3, Article 121, Part 2: masterminding infliction of serious bodily harm by a group of persons motivated by racist, ethnic or religious hate or intolerance or resulting in the victim’s death (seven to ten years in prison);

  • Article 437: planning, preparing or unleashing an aggressive war or military conflict (seven to 12 years in prison); waging a war or aggressive military actions (ten to 15 years in prison.);

  • Article 438, Part 1 and Part 2: violation of war laws and customs (ten to 15 years in prison or life imprisonment).

  • Article 426-1, Part 3: exceeding of authority or office powers by a military official (five to nine years in prison);

  • Article 364, Part 2: abuse of authority or office powers (three to six years in prison with a ban to have certain positions or engage in certain activity for up to three years).


On March 26 and 27, the Ukrainian People’s Tribunal reviewed charges against the Poroshenko regime concerning the use of armed forces against civilians. The UPT will group the charges into several categories (use of armed forces against civilians, tortures, blockade, creating illegal paramilitary formations, genocide etc).

The Tribunal brought charges against eight Poroshenko regime officials at its first session including the Ukrainian president, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, National Security and Defence Council Secretary Alexander Turchinov, Prime Minister Vladimir Groisman, Chief of the General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, Defence Minister Stepan Poltorak, parliament speaker Andrey Parubiy and former Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

The UPT set up by the initiative group of Ukrainian citizens living in Donetsk and Lugansk, will review cases in accordance with the Ukrainian legislation and norms of international law.*jk