Ольховенко O. Criminal-legal specification of a crime: refusal of a witness to testify or refusal of an expert or translator to perform the duties assigned to them (Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Criminal-Legal Characteristic of a Crime of a Refusal of a Witness to Testify or Refusal of an Expert or Interpreter to Perform their Duties (Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). - Qualification research paper as a manuscript. Dissertation for obtaining a Ph.D. scientific degree of Juridical Sciences according to the specialty 12.00.08 – criminal law and criminology; criminal-executory law (081 – Law). – Higher educational institution “National Academy of Management”. Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine. – Kyiv, 2017. The dissertation is a comprehensive and systematic scientific research of the issue of the criminal-legal characteristic of a crime of a refusal of a witness to testify or refusal of an expert or interpreter to perform their duties (Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). As a result of the scientific analysis of the theoretical state of the issue, its legal governance, and the law-enforcement practice, the author gives significant propositions for the legal science; new definitions and conclusions have been formulated. During the study, the beginnings and the history of the criminal responsibility for the refusal of a witness to testify or refusal of an expert or interpreter to perform their duties are determined as well as the current state of this problem. The definition of a crime of the groundless refusal of a witness to testify or refusal of an expert or interpreter to perform their duties is suggested. The concept of the following paramount factors of the socio-legal conditionality of this prohibition are determined: social-criminological; normative-legal; ethical; cultural-historical; international-legal that convince in the necessity of preservation of criminal responsibility for a refusal of a witness to testify or refusal of an expert or interpreter to perform their duties in the current legislation and determine the further direction of improvement of this criminal-legal provision. The author defines the generic and direct objects of this socially dangerous act. Taking into account modern achievements of native and foreign criminal law science the obligatory elements of the objective side of a crime of a refusal of a witness to testify or refusal of an expert or interpreter to perform their duties has been analyzed. The scope of persons that can be a perpetrator of a crime under Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine is defined. Grounding on the research of the existing viewpoints regarding the subjective aspect of a crime of a refusal of a witness to testify or refusal of an expert or interpreter to perform their duties as well as on results of the survey the definition of the subjective aspect of the mentioned crime is suggested. Aiming to discover significant characters of separate crimes in the Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which has a blanket disposition, the author provides the comprehensive analysis of the current Ukrainian legislation. This is significant both for characterization of an act under the researched article and for its improvement. The separation of a crime under Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine from neighboring crime under Article 384 of this Code has been provided in this paper. Grounding on the research of the basic elements of a crime provided for in Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and similar elements of crimes prescribed by the criminal law of some foreign states the comparative-legal characteristic of these crimes has been performed. The propositions on the improvement of the provisions of Article 385 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and its law-enforcement practice have been formulated.