For 97 years, since its inception, the prosecution authorities of the Republic of Belarus have continuously affirmed their special purpose in ensuring the supremacy of law, strengthening legality and law and order.
Every day, making maximum use of their knowledge and experience, and without regard for personal time, employees of the city and district prosecutor's offices of the region ensure the strengthening of legality and the observance of law and order in their assigned territories, engaging in crime prevention, fighting corruption, supporting the state prosecution in criminal cases in courts, carrying out serious and effective supervisory work in all spheres of life, and enhancing the legal awareness of the population of the Vitebsk region.
The main task of a prosecutor is to identify a problem, uncover its root causes, and take exhaustive measures to eliminate shortcomings, thereby restoring the violated rights of citizens and the state, and protecting their legitimate interests.
The supervisory authority of the region systematically and effectively implements organisational and practical measures to counteract corruption manifestations in various spheres.
Prosecutors have suppressed numerous offences that create conditions for corruption in procurement spheres, both through budget funds and through the own funds of enterprises and organisations. Isolated violations of income and property declaration procedures by certain categories of public officials, and non-compliance with anti-corruption restrictions, have been identified.
Based on the results of supervisory measures in the current year, the prosecutor's offices of the region have issued over 120 acts of prosecutorial supervision due to identified violations of anti-corruption legislation. At the request of prosecutors, over 180 officials have been held liable for various types of offences, including disciplinary – over 140, administrative – over 25 (predominantly violations in procurement and income and property declaration procedures), and material – 17.
Both in 2018 and in the current period, prosecutors promptly suppress procurement procedures conducted by enterprises and organisations in violation of anti-corruption legislation by annulling illegal procedures.
For example, in 2018, at the request of prosecutors, 4 procurement procedures were annulled, 3 of which were conducted using local budget funds. As a result, the expenditure of state funds (in violation of legislation) amounting to over 160 thousand rubles was prevented.
In the current year, at the request of the Prosecutor of Polotsk District, the public procurement procedure of the education department of the Polotsk District Executive Committee was cancelled. As a result, the expenditure of budget funds in violation of the law amounting to 129,000 rubles was prevented, and the responsible official was brought to disciplinary action.
Furthermore, based on the review of the prosecutor's submission regarding violations of procurement legislation using own funds, submitted to UP "Polotsk Poultry Farm", members of the enterprise's procurement commission (9 officials) were brought to disciplinary action. The cancellation of the procurement procedure also prevented the expenditure of the state enterprise's own funds in violation of the law, amounting to 402,000 rubles.
Prosecutors have undertaken significant work in protecting the rights of minors and youth.
As practice shows, the supervisory authority should not only inspect prevention entities but also take measures that will positively influence the state of legality and assist families and children.
On the initiative of the regional prosecutor's office, the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies adopted a decision last year on additional measures for the social support of students.
According to this decision, students of general secondary and special education institutions in the region are granted the right to free travel on public passenger transport from September 1 to June 30.
In the 2018/2019 academic year, this decision was successfully implemented in the region. Students have the right to free travel not only to and from their place of study but also to places of additional employment, sports, culture, etc. Such social support measures have enabled greater involvement of children in extracurricular activities, thereby effectively contributing to the prevention of their unlawful behaviour.
Over many years of practice in child protection, there have been significant cases where children were successfully helped through the joint efforts of law enforcement and other interested agencies.
For example, the prosecutor's office, in cooperation with the KGB department for the Vitebsk region, prevented the unlawful removal of a child abroad for a reward, took measures to cancel a fictitious adoption, and initiated a criminal case. The child is now living safely in a foster family.
Furthermore, during prosecutorial supervision, a child was urgently removed from the family when, for religious reasons, the parents refused to allow a blood transfusion operation for their minor child, which could have led to a fatal outcome. As a result, the state authorised the operation, and the child was saved.
Prosecutors are also focusing on issues related to the observance of housing rights for minors.
For instance, the Regional Prosecutor, acting in the interests of minor children, filed a lawsuit with the court to invalidate a gift agreement for residential premises. Under this agreement, a three-room, fully equipped apartment owned by the children's mother was alienated by her as security for a loan agreement. At the same time, the children had no other suitable housing and remained in a socially dangerous situation. The court ruled the transaction invalid, and the children's housing rights were restored.
Such examples from the law enforcement practice of the Vitebsk Region Prosecutor's Offices can be cited further.
The Vitebsk Region Prosecutor's Offices have recently significantly intensified their work to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.
The problem of realising the rights of disabled persons to an accessible, barrier-free environment has been highlighted to local authorities, and measures have been demanded to equip buildings housing educational organisations, medical and social institutions, trade and service enterprises with ramps and handrails for wheelchair users, and to adapt other socially significant facilities and residential buildings.
For example, at the request of prosecutors, the ramp at the "Kopeyechka" grocery store, located near the State Social Service Institution "Vitebsk Boarding House for the Elderly and Disabled," was modified. The approach to the reception centre building in the agro-town of Tarasenkі, Vitebsk District, was equipped with a ramp and railings. Proper operation of lifting platforms for transporting persons with disabilities on the pedestrian bridge of the Vitebsk railway station was ensured.
The interests of the region's older generation and elderly citizens also receive due attention.
Thus, at the claim of the regional prosecutor, a gift agreement for an apartment was also declared invalid by the court. According to this agreement, an elderly woman in need of external assistance gifted her apartment to a barely acquainted citizen. The latter registered the ownership rights to the apartment in her name, carried out repairs, brought in her own furniture, but subsequently, having failed to fulfil her obligations to the donor regarding care, placed the woman in the district hospital ward as a lonely person in need of care. The transaction, made under the influence of delusion, was declared invalid by the court at the prosecutor's claim, and the rights of the elderly woman were restored.
It should be noted that the effectiveness of the supervisory department's work influences, among other things, the social and economic development of the region.
Checks on compliance with legislation in the economic sphere are carried out on a permanent basis, including during the implementation of state programmes, investment and innovation projects.
Issues of reducing overdue external accounts receivable and the return of foreign currency earnings to the country are under special control. Prosecutors have filed 12 claims with economic courts to protect the property interests of legal entities of state ownership, seeking recovery of 73.7 thousand Belarusian rubles, 63.2 million Russian rubles, and 93.4 thousand euros.
Prosecutorial response measures have ensured the actual inflow of foreign currency earnings into the country amounting to the equivalent of 1.5 million Belarusian rubles. The regional prosecutor's office has initiated 3 criminal cases against the director of a Russian commercial organisation on the grounds of overdue accounts receivable from Belarusian exporting enterprises.
In the course of supervising the enforcement of tax legislation this year, significant attention was paid to analysing the compliance by local executive and administrative bodies with the requirements of regulatory legal acts governing the collection of local taxes and fees, in particular, the dog ownership tax.
The prosecutorial response measures taken have contributed to the establishment of registration and accounting of domestic animals, the correct determination of the number of taxable objects, the timeliness and completeness of tax remittance to the budget, and the intensification of work with debtors.
The work focused on resolving strategic issues of property preservation and management in the agro-industrial complex of the region has yielded positive results.
Prosecutors regularly conduct on-site reviews of issues related to the provision of organisational and technological measures during the production of main types of field work, compliance with soil cultivation and crop cultivation technologies, organisation and execution of work during sowing and harvesting campaigns, and fodder procurement. Checks are also carried out on the restoration and preservation of cattle herds. Control has been established over the restoration, repair, and operating conditions of agricultural machinery, and the causes of failure and breakdown of agricultural machinery and units, as well as the responsible parties, are being identified.
It should be noted that following the intervention of the prosecutor's offices, almost all violations identified by economic entities and local authorities are rectified, and measures are taken to restore order at the facilities.
The efforts of the Vitebsk region prosecutor's office in protecting citizens' rights, primarily labour and social rights, are invaluable, and we indeed play a very important role in this area.
Thus, to address the most pressing problem facing the region – the repayment of wage arrears – the full range of prosecutorial response measures established by law has been applied.
It is gratifying to note that while on 01.01.2019 there were 70 enterprises in the region with debts to employees, we now deal with only isolated cases of delayed wage payments to workforces (as of 01.06.2019 – 3 organisations).
The prosecutors of the Vitebsk region pay increased attention to issues of workplace injuries.
The measures taken by the supervisory authority have contributed to increasing the responsibility of officials of authorised state bodies and improving the quality of their inspections and monitoring. As a consequence, for January-May 2019, a trend towards a decrease in the number of severe and fatal workplace accidents was observed across the region compared to the previous year, from 45 to 41 cases.
Practice shows that, often thanks to the intervention of the prosecutor's offices, long-standing problems affecting public safety can be resolved.
Thanks to the proactive stance of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, the issue of closing traffic on the dilapidated "Polotsky" overpass in Vitebsk and commencing its reconstruction has been resolved. Currently, the said overpass is being dismantled, and simultaneously, work is underway to construct a new bridge structure in its place.
Prosecutors are also scrutinising compliance with regulatory timelines for the construction of apartment buildings. As of the end of 2018, there were 4 such facilities in the Vitebsk region, with construction readiness for several not exceeding 50%, and some having been under construction for over 10 years.
The Regional Prosecutor's Office has taken appropriate response measures, and currently, out of the 4 long-term construction projects, only 1 facility remains uncommissioned, which is in the final stage of construction (construction readiness approximately 93%).
The aforementioned examples are the result of truly large-scale and effective work to strengthen legality and law and order in the region.
On the eve of a professional holiday, it is a good occasion to express words of gratitude to the people who stand guard over the interests of individuals and the state every day: current prosecutors and veterans who have made a huge contribution to strengthening legality and law and order in the Vitebsk region, passing on their accumulated experience to the younger generation.
I wish prosecutors to continue to be at the forefront of events, to demonstrate high professionalism and reasonable initiative, without reducing work efficiency. And most importantly, as before, not to remain indifferent to the misfortunes of others.
May the honourable title of reliable guardians of the Law give you energy and vitality for the effective solution of professional tasks for the benefit of our native Vitebsk region.
Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus
State Counsellor of Justice, 3rd Class
A.V. Dubov
Photo: Prosecutor General's Office of the Republic of Belarus
