Parliament has taken a step towards regulating the counting of deadlines for court declaration of missing soldiers as deceased.
Kyiv • UNN
The Verkhovna Rada has approved a bill that defines the terms for declaring missing persons dead in connection with military operations. The court will be able to do this 6 months after the disappearance.
The Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law on determining the terms for a court to declare a natural person who disappeared in connection with hostilities as deceased. This was reported by MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, reports UNN.
Details
Honcharenko said that 262 MPs voted "for".
A natural person who disappeared in connection with hostilities, an armed conflict, may be declared dead by a court after two years from the date of the end of hostilities. Amendments are made to Art. 46 of the Civil Code
He noted that, taking into account the specific circumstances of the case, the court may declare a natural person dead even before the expiration of this period, but no earlier than six months from the occurrence of circumstances that threatened his death or give reason to assume his death.
Ministry of Internal Affairs announces the number of missing Ukrainians03.02.25, 16:48 • 29502 views
Context
The National Association of Lawyers of Ukraine noted that according to the current version of the norm, a natural person who disappeared in connection with hostilities, an armed conflict, may be declared dead by a court after two years from the date of the end of hostilities. But taking into account the specific circumstances of the case, the court may declare a natural person dead even before the expiration of this period, but no earlier than six months.
The authors of the legislative initiative note that the courts interpret the conditions for applying such circumstances differently, in particular, regarding the beginning of the countdown of the terms specified in this norm, which are necessary for applying to the court with a corresponding application. Some believe that these terms should be calculated from the moment of the event that could have led to the death of the person. Others - from the end of hostilities (martial law) on the territory of the state. The issue was even the subject of consideration by the Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court in case No. 755/11021/22. In it, the court emphasized that the application of the second approach contradicts the principle of the rule of law and its component - legal certainty.
That is why the draft proposes to supplement the norm of Part 2 of Art. 46 of the Civil Code that the six-month period when the court may declare a natural person dead should be calculated "from the occurrence of circumstances that threatened his death or give reason to assume his death".
Addition
The Verkhovna Rada adopted as a basis a draft law that changes the approach to opening criminal proceedings and conducting pre-trial investigations in cases related to the disappearance of persons without a trace under special circumstances in a state of war.
