Other participants in the event were members of the Ukrainian Parliament / parliamentary committee members M.Palamarchuk, A.Heraschenko and V.Bukharev.
Andrii Kozhemiyakin thanked representatives of the Council of Europe bodies for the work done for Ukraine to improve its legislation in the field of criminal justice and noted that lately the Council of Europe and its experts have accompanied every single consideration of bills important for the Ukrainian people.
According to Kozhemiyakin, elaboration of the bill on introduction of the misdemeanor offenses notion emerged in view of adoption of the new Penal Code of Ukraine in 2012, which inter alia introduced new notion of 'misdemeanor offenses'.
He said that the lawmaker envisaged two types of criminal offences: crimes and misdemeanor offences. It became one of the most remarkable steps towards the implementation of obligations to reform criminal justice system by Ukraine.
The Chair of the Committee noted that the introduction of the misdemeanor offenses institution into the Ukrainian legislation will allow not only to lower the burden on the law enforcement system and its certain employees, but will also increase the effectiveness of their work.
Andrii Kozhemiyakin recalled that the bill No. 2897 offers to:
- introduce the misdemeanor offenses institution into the Ukrainian legislation;
- distinguish crimes depending on the level of their graveness, as well as depending on their commission's legal consequences and form of guilt;
- limit the field of application of punishment related to imprisonment, etc.
Respective consultations were organized within the framework of the Council of Europe project entitled Support to the Criminal Justice Reform in Ukraine.
The members of the Ukrainian delegation also took part in expert discussions and meetings with representatives of the Council of Europe.