Disciplinary responsibility of a serviceman as a consequence of committing a criminal or administrative offense under the legal regime of martial law
Keywords:
Military Service, Disciplinary Responsibility, Engel Criteria, Commander’s Discretion, Reasoning Of Disciplinary Decisions, Judicial Review, Martial LawAbstract
This paper studies the legal nature, functional models, and limits of disciplinary responsibility of servicemen under martial law. Research methods include legal-dogmatic analysis, interpretation of law enforcement practice, content analysis, and descriptive statistical analysis. The empirical base consists of 42 disciplinary orders and 186 independentcourt decisions rendered from 2022 to 2025; a subset of 88 judicial cases was additionally assessed under the Engel criteria. The results indicate that disciplinary responsibility operates through three functional models: operational, primary, and additional. The operational model applies while another legally prescribed procedure remains pending, whereas the primary model constitutes the completed response in cases governed by Article 15 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses. The additional model accompanies another legally distinct procedure without replacing it.The paper also reveals that 78.6% of the analyzed disciplinary orders contain formal or partial reasoning, indicating a recurrent weakness in their documented justification rather than a demonstrated effect on subsequent judicial review. The Engel-based assessment showed that 68.2% of sanctions had predominantly internal-service effects, 22.7% involved identifiable material or service-related consequences, and 9.1% displayed stronger punitive characteristics. The study conceptualizes disciplinary responsibility as an autonomous instrument of military governance and substantiates the necessity of clarifying reasoning standards, procedural safeguards, and the limits of commanders’ discretion.
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