Life Imprisonment May Be Introduced for Ecocide: Details of the New Bill
Life imprisonment may be introduced for ecocide, and enterprises whose activities have led to irreversible environmental destruction may be liquidated by court decision. These changes are proposed in the bill amending the Criminal Code of Ukraine to clarify liability for ecocide.
The document proposes to effectively rewrite Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which has remained almost unchanged for over two decades. The authors of the legislative initiative believe that the current version does not meet modern challenges, especially after the large-scale destruction of the Ukrainian environment due to the full-scale war, and does not allow for effective prosecution of offenders.
Why the changes are necessary
Currently, Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine provides only one sanction for ecocide – imprisonment for a term of eight to fifteen years. At the same time, this article lacks a definition of the term "environmental catastrophe," does not distinguish between different degrees of crime severity, and does not provide separate liability for repeated offenses or actions committed by a group of persons.
The bill's authors note that due to the vagueness of the provision, law enforcement agencies find it difficult to prove the elements of the crime, and courts struggle to apply the article in practice.
The explanatory note cites official data from the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources of Ukraine and the State Environmental Inspectorate of Ukraine, according to which documented environmental damage caused solely by hostilities already exceeds 6 trillion hryvnias. Meanwhile, from 2014 to early 2023, only 37 criminal proceedings were registered under Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
What exactly is proposed to be punished
The bill proposes to clarify the objective side of the crime. As now, the following will remain criminally punishable:
- mass destruction of plant life
- mass destruction of animal life
- poisoning of the atmosphere
- poisoning of water resources.
At the same time, the list is supplemented by another object – lands. Accordingly, criminal liability for ecocide will also extend to cases of intentional poisoning of lands that created an obvious threat of an environmental catastrophe.
In addition, the wording of the crime itself changes. If currently criminal liability arises for actions that may cause an environmental catastrophe, the new version proposes to establish liability for intentional actions that created an obvious threat of an environmental catastrophe. Thus, lawmakers seek to more clearly define the boundaries of criminal liability and simplify proving guilt during court proceedings.
When life imprisonment may be threatened
One of the main innovations of the bill is the introduction of a second part of Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. It provides for significantly harsher liability if ecocide is committed repeatedly, by prior conspiracy of a group of persons, or if such actions caused an environmental catastrophe. In such cases, the punishment may be from 12 to 15 years imprisonment or life imprisonment.
Effectively, the bill allows for the first time the application of the harshest type of criminal punishment specifically for ecocide.
What will change in the definition of "environmental catastrophe"
Although the term "environmental catastrophe" is already used in Article 441 of the Criminal Code, current legislation does not contain its definition. The bill proposes for the first time to enshrine in a note to Article 441 a legislative definition of this term and criteria by which the fact of an environmental catastrophe can be established.
It is proposed to define that an environmental catastrophe is: a deep and destructive violation of the ecological balance within a certain territory or water area that has led to the complete loss of the natural environment's ability to self-recover, mass death of living organisms, or impossibility of human habitation.
The absence of this definition, according to the bill's authors, complicates crime qualification and creates inconsistent judicial practice.
Legal entities will also be held liable
The bill is not limited to changes only to Article 441. It also proposes to supplement Articles 96³ and 96⁴ of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. If adopted, ecocide will become a separate ground for applying criminal-legal measures to legal entities.
Effectively, this means that liability may be borne not only by specific officials but also by enterprises on whose behalf or in whose interests the crime was committed.
Enterprises may be liquidated for ecocide
Another important innovation is changes to Article 96⁹ of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. They provide for the possibility of liquidation of a legal entity by court decision. However, such a decision is proposed to be applied only in exceptional cases: if the enterprise's activity was wholly or predominantly aimed at committing ecocide or if the environmental damage caused is irreversible.
Additionally, the bill defines the procedure for using funds after the liquidation of the enterprise. Primarily, these funds should be directed to: eliminating the environmental consequences of the crime, compensating victims, and paying compensation to the enterprise's employees according to the law.
Currently, the document is registered in the Verkhovna Rada as a legislative initiative. If the parliament supports it in full, Ukraine will for the first time have a detailed system of criminal liability for ecocide with a clear definition of environmental catastrophe, the possibility of life imprisonment in the most severe cases, and a mechanism for liquidating legal entities whose activities led to irreversible environmental destruction.
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