Identification of Veterans in Criminal Proceedings: Between Law and Reality

What is veteran identification and why is it important in criminal cases?

During the war, an increasing number of veterans are finding themselves involved in criminal proceedings. And not only as suspects – they can be victims, witnesses, or experts. But when they are suspects, an important question arises:How exactly should their status be determined within the case, and why is this important?

Identifying veterans is, in essence, establishing the fact of combat experience, which can influence key decisions in a case – from assessing a person's psycho-emotional state to choosing a preventive measure, as well as providing assistance to a person who has experienced trauma.

This is not about labels or "special treatment," but about recording the fact of participation in hostilities, which has legal significance.

Today, there is no single mechanism in Ukraine that guarantees that information about a person's combat past will be taken into account at an early stage of the investigation. Sometimes investigators learn about it immediately, sometimes judges of higher courts learn about it only at the end of the case, when this information can no longer change much. Because of this, statistics on "veterans in criminal offenses" can also be distorted or incomplete.