PROBLEMS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT ARTICLE 325 OF THE CRIMINAL CODE OF UKRAINE IN CONDITIONS OF SPREAD OF COVID-19 VIRUS

Abstract

Population health is a constitutionally guaranteed and is the object of criminal law. This article is devoted to the study of issues of enforcement of Article 325 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which provides for criminal liability for violating sanitary rules and norms for the prevention of infectious diseases and mass poisoning, in conditions of distribution of the COVID -19 virus. Primary version of Article 325 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine in 2001 was called “Violation of the Rules for Fighting Epidemics” and by 2009, it envisaged a punishment in the form of a fine to fifty non-taxable minimum incomes or arrest for a term up to six months, or restrictions on liberty for a term to the three years. March 17, 2009 Art. 325 of the Criminal Code for the first time has been changed, namely, the name of the article was changed and the sanction of an article with a maximum limit to 100 non-taxable minimum incomes of citizens was strengthened. In this form, she lasted to the emergence of a new threatening coronavirus. Prior to the introduction of quarantine, individuals were attracted to a criminal liability for food poisoning, which were the result of mass celebrations. As shown by statistics, in the period from 2013 to 2019, courts took only 5 sentences in the specified category of affairs. Criminal liability for violation of sanitary rules and norms for the prevention of infectious diseases and mass poisoning was increased due to a change in a fine to a size of one thousand to three thousand non-taxable minimums of citizens. However, its effectiveness – the issue is rather controversial in the theoretical and in the practical plan. Our study has demonstrated that Art. 325 of the Criminal Code contains a number of problems, for example, such as a blancitude of disposition, difficulties in establishing a clear list of prohibited acts, the difficulties of distinguishing this composition of a crime from a similar composition of an administrative offense, unspecified sanctions as a crime and offenses, etc.