We, as supporters of the legal regulation of civilian arms circulation and real equality of citizens, have dug a little into the topic of “award weapons”.
As promised, we submit our conclusions on the legality of the use of such weapons. In fact, there are several conclusions:
- social relations in the sphere of award weapons are even more complicated than weapons for civilian use;
- weapons are awarded not only by the President of Ukraine, but also by the heads of almost all law enforcement agencies, including the Special Communications Service;
- civilian use of award weapons is not regulated by law, so it is illegal;
- The use of award weapons is a vivid example of discrimination in Ukraine.
Thus, in the text of the article, the term “legality” will be most often used in the sense of “legal order”. In order not to get confused in all the intricacies of laws and regulations, we recommend that you remember that “The LEGAL ORDER in Ukraine is based on the principles according to which no one can be forced to do what is not provided by law. State authorities and local self-government bodies, their officials are obliged to act only on the basis, within the limits of authority and in the manner prescribed by the Constitution and laws of Ukraine” (art. 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine).
That is, the actions of bodies and officials: a) should not go beyond the powers granted by law or the Constitution; b) such actions should be based on a specific provision of the law or the Constitution; c) the very way of actions of officials must also comply with the law and the Constitution. In addition, the principle of the rule of law is recognized and operates in Ukraine (Article 8 of the Constitution): The Constitution is above the law, the law is above instructions. In other words: citizens can do anything as long as it is not restricted by law, and bodies and officials can do only what is directly allowed by law.
There are three laws in Ukraine that contain references to award weapons, these are:
1) Law of Ukraine “On State Awards in Ukraine”
2) Law of Ukraine “On Disciplinary Statute of the Internal Affairs Bodies of Ukraine”
3) Law of Ukraine “On the Disciplinary Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine“.
In order not to be unfounded, we have sent inquiries to the President of Ukraine, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense and the Security Service of Ukraine and clarified what they are guided by when providing reward weapons. It should be noted that the Security Service of Ukraine, surprisingly, was the most open structure in terms of completeness and timeliness of responses to requests for access to public information, which cannot be said about the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Legal basis for awarding weapons in the Ministry of Internal AffairsThe legal basis of the President. award weaponsSecurity Service of Ukraine legal base award weapons 1/2Security Service of Ukraine legal base award weapons 2/2
For the purposes of this blog, under civilian use we primarily mean the use of weapons for non-official purposes, i.e. the carrying, storage and use of weapons by a non-official outside of service or performance of official duties. Let’s start with the fact that in Ukraine, only the President of Ukraine awards state awards, the rest of the “awards” are only departmental awards (art. 3 of the Law). Let us consider the awards from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Security Service of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine in turn.
As awarded by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Why is the civilian use of such weapons illegal?
In response, the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that it awards according to its own instructions. Here it should be remembered that only the action of an official, the limits and method of implementation of which are precisely based on the norm of the law or the Constitution, is legal (Article 19 of the Constitution of Ukraine). Therefore, having opened this instruction, we are convinced that the legality should be sought in the Disciplinary Statutes of the IAA and the Armed Forces, there are no references to other laws. I would like to remind you that our task is to find the norm of the law that gives the right to civilian use of award weapons.
If we abandon the realities of Ukrainian law-making practice, logic alone suggests that the right to civilian use of weapons cannot be found in the Disciplinary Statutes. But these are our realities and we are forced to burden you with direct quotes from the laws in order not to be accused of overreaching and unfoundedness.
Thus, the Disciplinary Statute of the internal affairs bodies “defines the essence of service discipline, the duties of rank-and-file and senior staff of the internal affairs bodies of Ukraine regarding its observance, types of incentives and disciplinary sanctions, the procedure and rights of superiors regarding their application, as well as the procedure for appealing against disciplinary sanctions”.
As if everything is clear – it concerns only the “internal kitchen” of the internal affairs bodies and should have nothing to do with civilian life. But let’s find out what “flies” in the law the Ministry of Internal Affairs clings to, making “elephants” out of them in their instructions.
Yes, Art. 9 of this statute stipulates that “for courage, bravery, heroism, reasonable initiative, diligence, conscientious and impeccable performance of official duties, the following types of incentives may be applied to persons of rank and file and command staff” such as awarding the insignia of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Firearm”.
Here we read further: “the insignia of the Ministry of Internal Affairs “Firearms” may be awarded by the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine for conscientious service, special merits in the fight against crime and protection of public order to senior officers”. Of course, we had a question about what kind of firearms (in quotes) we are talking about: combat, MMG or souvenir ;), the law does not regulate this.
However, the law clearly states for what merits such an award is granted and that such an award is given by the Minister exclusively (!) to the senior staff of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, so at least to officials who (again, recall Art. 19 of the Constitution) are obliged to act only within the powers and in the manner prescribed by law, and not by instructions.
And here is the trouble – the law does not provide for the right of civilian use of award weapons, which, in fact, had to be proved. But, as it turned out, this is not a problem for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, because all the rights can be added to the instructions, and citizens can be told “about the strict observance of laws and the Constitution”, although in this case there can be no legality.
It follows that the story with Zoryan Shkiryak will have an interesting continuation, although the Ministry of Internal Affairs hides its own heroes from its people, classifying information about awards, we will still shed light on the truth.
MIA classifies information about award weapons and heroes who received them
About the award pistols from the SBU.
We will not bore the readers (who have reached this point, and yes – heroes), we will only note that the response of the Security Service of Ukraine with reference to a number of articles of the law is far-fetched, because the awarding of firearms is prescribed only in the Disciplinary Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Again, “this Statute defines the essence of military discipline, the duties of servicemen to comply with it, the types of incentives and disciplinary sanctions, the rights of commanders to apply them, as well as the procedure for submission and consideration of applications, proposals and complaints”.
Also, “the Disciplinary Statute of the Armed Forces of Ukraine applies to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine, the National Guard of Ukraine and other military formations established in accordance with the laws of Ukraine, the State Special Transport Service, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine”.
In fact, everything is the same as with the disciplinary statute of the IAA, but the rule on direct awarding is somewhat more interesting: “The Minister of Defence of Ukraine, heads of other central executive bodies, who have military formations established in accordance with the laws of Ukraine under their subordination, award departmental insignia “Firearm” and “Cold Weapon”. This is an honorary state award and departmental incentive awards for outstanding merits in ensuring the defence capability of Ukraine, inviolability of its state border, maintaining high combat readiness of troops (forces), strengthening national security, combating crime, protecting constitutional rights and freedoms of man and citizen, for impeccable long-term service, exemplary performance of military and official duties, honour and valour” (clause 44 of the Statute).. And there is no more word in the law about the use of such weapons.
We also hope that most of you have noticed that weapons are awarded for “impeccable long-term service”. However, the Security Service of Ukraine with its instructions substitutes the law and turns everything upside down, awards pistols to anyone, even those who have nothing to do with the department, to receive departmental (!) awards. But without the relevant law, its instructions establish the right to carry, store and use such weapons. So, here we have a conclusion that, without the relevant law, the state body establishes rights by departmental instructions.
On award weapons from the President and discrimination based on property status.
It was noted above that the state award is only the Presidential decoration “Nominal firearm”. There is not a word in this law about the right of civilian use of such weapons. This right, as in the case of instructions, the President himself prescribed in his Decree. Although the Presidential Decree has a higher status than a departmental instruction, it cannot substitute the law. We must pay tribute to the fact that the decree, unlike the instructions, at least states that “registered firearms” are only Fort-12.
Also, on the example of this decree, we will reveal the content of discrimination in the rights of civilian use of weapons. According to clause. 6 of the decree stipulates that persons awarded with the insignia “Nominal firearm” have the right to keep, carry and use it.
This is an example of granting rights as a privilege – wild feudalism. That is, only those who have acquired property in a certain way have the right. It is the same as if each of us would get a driver’s license only after he/she gets a car, but not just buys, rents or exchanges it, but receives it as a gift.
As you can see, all these structures headed by the President, having no legal grounds for the civilian use of award weapons, with the dubious status of such weapons, are categorically against the Law “On Civilian Weapons and Ammunition” – just sincere legal nihilism from the persons responsible for the fate of 40 million people.
P.S. Regarding the “personalized firearms” as a presidential award, we quote more art. 12-1 of the Law which establishes that“the production of orders, medals, badges for honorary titles of Ukraine, badges of laureates of state prizes of Ukraine and presidential awards, as well as documents certifying their awarding, is carried out exclusively (!) by theNational Bank of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, the Mint did not have a license to manufacture award weapons.
All state awards according to the law are produced exclusively by the Mint
In fact, we are interested in many other issues in the topic of award weapons.
In particular, how much taxpayers’ money was spent on buying guns for “secret heroes” and how many of these tens of thousands of “secret heroes” are public opponents of the Law “On Civilian Weapons and Ammunition“?
Author: Vitaliy Kolomiets
Attorneys at law “Orekhovskyi and Kolomiets”