Obvious and not obvious in witness immunity (the experience of the comparative legal analysis)

Introduction: witness immunity - that is, the right of certain categories of persons to give testimony about some of the known circumstances, is a penal institution, objectively associated with the whole complex of problems of the criminal justice system - its participants, the proof in criminal cases, the right to protection and qualified legal assistance, etc. The historical and comparative legal analysis of the legislative consolidation of witness immunity opens up new opportunities for the study of this whole complex of theoretical and practical problems. The aim is to determine the best ways to improve its legal definition and implementation practice based on the analysis of different legislative formulations on witness immunity. The main research methods are the methods of comparative law, historicism and system-structural analysis. Results: the trends in the development of the legal definition of witness immunity in the domestic legislation, the similarities and differences in the solution of similar issues in the legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the relationship of both with the socio-economic and political processes in both states are revealed. Conclusions: 1) witness immunity as a social and legal institution is a reflection of the global processes of development of society, the state and the national legal system; 2) the comparative legal analysis of the legislative definition of witness immunity in different states allows us to identify the best ways to solve many criminal procedural and other legal problems.