REPORT ON FAILURE TO TO COMPLY WITH AN ORDER

Despite the fact that the execution of the commander's order is an important component of discipline in the army, not all orders are such that it is possible to carry them out. Somewhere the operational situation has changed, somewhere the serviceman understands that there is no chance of returning alive from the task he is sent to. And somewhere, an order, in principle, can be criminal, because, despite patriotism and high morale in the Armed Forces, no one excludes the human factor at the level of individuals. It is necessary to understand how to act in such a situation, so that your actions due to justified non-fulfilment of the order are not considered a crime.

What legal norms regulate this issue?

Art. 402 of the current Criminal Code of Ukraine stipulates that disobedience, which manifests itself in an open refusal to carry out a superior's order in conditions of martial law or a combat situation, is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 5 to 10 years. Therefore, it is quite obvious that the presence of valid reasons for not complying with the commander's order must be properly explained so that the serviceman does not have problems with the law.

The following article of the Criminal Code of Ukraine concerns failure to comply with an order in wartime, when there were no signs of disobedience. Actions that caused serious consequences fall under this legal norm. The sanction of the article provides imprisonment from 3 to 7 years.

If we explain the difference between these two legal norms in simple words, then it is that in the first case we are talking about an open statement about unwillingness to comply with the order and demonstrative actions that confirm it. In the second case, an equally important factor is the occurrence of serious consequences. That is, if such consequences do not occur, it will be impossible to bring the serviceman to justice under this article, since there is no objective aspect of the crime.

If it is a known criminal order, then the serviceman should not carry it out. Moreover, he will be criminally liable if he agrees to comply with such an order.

How to formalize non-fulfillment of the order so that there are no negative consequences?

So, all of the above shows that different situations can happen in life, and a military serviceman needs to know how to correctly issue a justified failure to comply with an order. An appropriate report should be drawn up on this matter. But, before writing a report about non-compliance with the order of the Armed Forces, it is worth using one important tool that helps reduce the potential negative consequences for a serviceman. This is an order clarification report. In this document, the serviceman notes the circumstances that are the reason for his doubts about the expediency of the order.

If a soldier starts with such a report, it gives him an opportunity to gain some time. Also, the commander understands that the order cannot be arbitrary and unfounded. But if such methods do not help and there is a need for a report on non-fulfillment of an order, it must be drawn up as competently as possible from a legal point of view, because the further fate of a serviceman depends to a large extent on this document.

The team of the law firm "Prikhodko&Partners" will help in such a difficult situation in several directions:

• We will carefully analyze all the circumstances of your situation and use all the necessary regulatory and legal framework to justify your decision.
• We will prepare a report so that it is legally competent and convincing.
• We will guide you in what your further algorithm of actions should be.

Such consistency of assistance becomes a guarantee of its effectiveness.