Parliamentary commissions approved at first reading the draft law ratifying the protocol to the agreement between Poland and Ukraine, which aims to facilitate common designation of penalties, another than imprisonment, issued by 1 state towards the citizens of the other.
According to the project's justification, the increase in Polish-Ukrainian contacts, especially after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, has been visible for years. In 2020, in Poland, just over 7,000 Ukrainian citizens were sentenced, with their number in our country of around 300 thousand. Already in the following year, almost 38 1000 information on convictions was provided to the Ukrainian website, and in 2022 almost 37 thousand. It is presently estimated that the number of Ukrainians in Poland is about 1.5 million.
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Most of the acts for which those persons are judged constitute insignificant crimes. The introduction of imprisonment in these cases would be disproportionately severe. It is so essential to apply sanctions specified as fines, restrictions on freedom, suspension of prison sentences and another criminal measures or property forfeiture. Their enforcement is most effective in the place of permanent residence of the convict. The current agreement between Poland and Ukraine on legal aid and legal cooperation does not cover the transfer of penalties another than imprisonment (so-called non-insulating) for execution in the territory of the second country. This results in a real deficiency of work for Ukrainian citizens who stay unpunished erstwhile they return to their country. Therefore, the erstwhile administration negotiated the signing of an additional protocol to the agreement, which allows for the transfer to Ukraine of besides prison sentences for those convicted in Poland (and vice versa). However, as this agreement concerns civilian rights and freedoms, its ratification requires the approval of Parliament expressed in the form of a bill.
During the first reading, at a joint gathering of the Committee on abroad Affairs and the Committee on Justice and Human Rights, the draft presented by the representatives of the Justice and Ministry of abroad Affairs gained the acceptance of Members. The explanatory memorandum and the discussion on it besides indicated that the proposed standard of cooperation is consistent with that existing between EU countries. Its adoption is so justified in the light of Ukraine's aspirations to join this organisation. At the same time, it is besides expected to have affirmative effects on Poland, strengthening our legal order and the social sense of justice, in which there is simply a gap in the regulations presently in place. The Ukrainians are the largest group of foreigners in Poland – and so besides the largest group of convicted foreigners.
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Daniel Głogowski
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