Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko signed a bill No. 7017, which provides criminal liability for illegal crossing of state border in some cases, as the website of the Parliament reports.
The document provides imprisonment for up to three years for crossing the border to damage the interests of the state by the individual who is prohibited from entering Ukraine, or by the representatives of the armed forces units of other security agencies of the aggressor state in any way bypassing the checkpoints or without required documents or with the documents with unreliable information.
If such violation is repeated or if it is committed by a group of people, the liability shall be increased: from three to five years of imprisonment. The most severe punishment provided for this violation using weapons is imprisonment for up to eight years.
The law will come into force on the next day after its official publication.
The bill in the first reading provided criminal liability for illegal border crossing for all the citizens of the aggressor state.
According to the article No.13 of the bill on the legal status of the foreigners or stateless people, they could be banned from entry to Ukraine because of national security or protection of the public order consideration; or if a person deliberately provides false information or fake documents. Besides, if a person violated the regulations of checkpoint crossing, if during his/her previous visit to Ukraine the foreigner did not execute the court’s decision, and if a person has temporary visited the occupied territory of the state, he/she would be banned too.
Earlier, the Parliament increased the fines for illegal crossing of the border. Since April 29, 2018, if a person crosses the border bypassing the checkpoint or uses fake documents, the fine is $121 - $303.
The violation of the regulations of entering the occupied territories to be penalised by a $121 - $182 fine.
All these fees might be imposed within three months since the violation was identified and no later than a year since the violation took place.
