Interview with the Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus, State Counselor of Justice of the 3rd Class Dubov A.V.

June 11, 2020

Since its inception, for 97 years, the prosecutor's offices of the Republic of Belarus have continuously confirmed their special purpose in ensuring the rule of law, strengthening legality and law and order.

Daily, making the fullest use of their knowledge and experience, without regard for personal time, employees of the prosecutor's offices of the cities and districts of the region ensure the strengthening of legality and compliance with law and order in their assigned territories, engaging in crime prevention, fighting corruption, supporting the state prosecution in criminal cases in courts, conducting serious and effective supervisory work in all spheres of life, and improving the level of legal culture of the population of Vitebsk region.

The main thing in the work of a prosecutor is to see the problem, identify the causes that gave rise to it, 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 organizational and practical measures to counteract corruption manifestations in various spheres.

Prosecutors have suppressed numerous offenses that create conditions for corruption in procurement, both at the expense of budget funds and at the expense of the own funds of enterprises and organizations, identified non-isolated violations of the procedure for declaring income and property by certain categories of public officials, and non-compliance with anti-corruption restrictions.

Based on the results of supervisory measures, in the current year, the prosecutor's offices of the region have issued more than 120 acts of prosecutorial supervision in connection with identified violations of anti-corruption legislation. At the request of prosecutors, more than 180 officials have been brought to various types of responsibility, including disciplinary - more than 140, administrative - more than 25 (predominantly violations in the field of procurement and declaration of income and property), and material - 17.

Both in 2018 and in the current year

in the period, prosecutors promptly suppress the conduct of procurement procedures by enterprises and organizations in violation of anti-corruption legislation, by canceling illegal procedures.

For example, in 2018, at the request of prosecutors, 4 procurement procedures were canceled, 3 of which were carried out at the expense of the local budget. As a result, the expenditure of state funds (in violation of the law) in the amount of more than 160 thousand rubles was prevented.

In the current year, at the request of the prosecutor of the Polotsk district, a state procurement procedure of the education department of the Polotsk district executive committee was canceled, as a result of which the expenditure of budget funds in violation of the law in the amount of 129,000 rubles was prevented, and the guilty official was brought to disciplinary responsibility.

In addition, based on the results of the prosecutor's submission on the facts of violation of the legislation on procurement at the expense of own funds, submitted to UP "Polotsk Poultry Farm", members of the enterprise's procurement commission (9 officials) were brought to disciplinary responsibility, and also as a result of the cancellation of the procurement procedure, the expenditure of the state enterprise's own funds in violation of the law in the amount of 402,000 rubles was prevented.

A significant amount of work has been done by prosecutors in the sphere of protecting the rights of minors and youth.

As practice shows, the supervisory authority must not only inspect prevention entities but also take measures that will have a beneficial effect on the state of legality, and help families and children.

At the initiative of the prosecutor's office of the region, the Vitebsk Regional Council of Deputies adopted a decision last year on additional measures for 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 allowed for greater involvement of children in additional employment, and therefore, to have a real impact on the prevention of their unlawful behavior.

For many years of practice in protecting children, there have been significant cases when, through joint efforts of law enforcement and other

interested departments, children were successfully helped.

For example, there was an experience of the prosecutor's office working together with the KGB department for the Vitebsk region, when as a result of an oversight check, the removal of a child abroad for a reward was prevented, measures were taken to cancel the fictitious adoption, and a criminal case was initiated. Now the child lives happily in a foster family.

Also, during prosecutorial supervision, a child was urgently removed from the family when, for religious reasons, the parents did not allow their young child to undergo a blood transfusion operation, which could have led to a fatal outcome. As a result, the state confirmed the permission for the operation, and the child was saved.

The prosecutors are also focused on issues of compliance with the housing rights of minors.

Thus, the regional prosecutor, in the interests of minor children, filed a lawsuit with the court to invalidate a gift agreement for residential premises, according to which a three-room, well-equipped apartment owned by their mother was alienated by her as security for a loan agreement. At the same time, the children had no other well-equipped housing and remained in a socially dangerous situation. By court decision, the transaction was declared invalid, and the children's rights to housing were restored.

Such examples from the law enforcement practice of the prosecutor's offices of the Vitebsk region can be cited further.

The prosecutor's offices of the Vitebsk region have recently significantly intensified their work to protect the rights of persons with disabilities.

The problem of realizing the rights of disabled people to an accessible barrier-free environment has been identified for local authorities, and measures have been demanded to equip buildings housing educational, medical and social institutions, trade and service enterprises, as well as other socially significant facilities and residential buildings with ramps and handrails for wheelchair users.

For example, at the request of prosecutors, the ramp at the "Kopeeчка" grocery store, located near the Vitebsk boarding house for the elderly and disabled, was modified; the approach to the building of the comprehensive reception center in the village of Tarasenko, Vitebsk region, was equipped with a ramp and railings; and the proper operation of lifting platforms for delivering persons with disabilities to the overpass of the Vitebsk railway station was ensured.

The interests of

of the older generation, elderly citizens of the region.

Thus, at the suit of the regional prosecutor, by a court decision, a gift agreement for an apartment was also declared invalid, according to which an elderly woman in need of outside help gifted her apartment to a barely known citizen. The latter registered ownership of the apartment in her name, carried out repairs, brought in her furniture, but subsequently, having failed to fulfill her obligations to the donor regarding care, placed the woman in a 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 suit, 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 economic legislation are carried out on a permanent basis, including in the implementation of state programs, investment and innovation projects.

Issues of reducing overdue foreign accounts receivable and the return of foreign currency earnings to the country are under special control. In economic courts, in order to protect the property interests of legal entities of state ownership, prosecutors have filed 12 claims for the 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 in the amount equivalent to 1.5 million Belarusian rubles. The regional prosecutor's office has initiated 3 criminal cases against the director of a Russian commercial organization for the formation of overdue accounts receivable from Belarusian exporting enterprises.

In the course of supervising the execution of tax legislation, significant attention was paid this year to analyzing 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 pets, 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 solving strategic issues of preservation has yielded a positive effectand management of property in the agro-industrial complex of the region.

Prosecutors regularly conduct on-site inspections to examine issues of ensuring the complex with organizational and technological measures in the production of main types of field work, compliance with soil cultivation technology and crop cultivation, organization and execution of work during sowing and harvesting campaigns, and fodder procurement. Inspections are also carried out to restore and preserve the cattle population. Control has been established over the restoration, repair, and operating conditions of agricultural machinery, and the causes of failure and breakdown of agricultural machinery, units, and responsible persons are identified.

It should be noted that after the intervention of the prosecutor's office, practically 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 labor and social rights, are invaluable, and we truly play a very important role in this area.

Thus, in order to address the most pressing problem facing the region – the repayment of wage arrears – the entire range of prosecutorial response measures established by law has been applied.

It is gratifying to note that while as of January 1, 2019, there were 70 enterprises in the region with debts to employees, we now deal with only isolated cases of delayed wage payments to labor collectives (as of June 1, 2019 – 3 organizations).

Prosecutors of the Vitebsk region pay increased attention to issues of occupational injuries.

The measures taken by the supervisory authority have contributed to increasing the responsibility of officials of authorized state bodies and improving the quality of inspections and monitoring conducted by them. As a consequence, for January-May 2019, a trend of reduction in the number of fatal and severe occupational 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 office, long-standing problems affecting public safety can be resolved.

Through the active position of the Vitebsk region prosecutor's office, the issue of closing traffic on the emergency overpass "Polotsky" in Vitebsk and putting it under reconstruction has been resolved. Currently, the said

the overpass is being dismantled, and work is underway in parallel to construct a new bridge structure in its place.

Prosecutors are also examining 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 not exceeding 50% for several of them, and some had 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 not commissioned, 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 the professional holiday, it is a good reason 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 honorable title of reliable guardians of the Law give you energy and vitality for the effective solution of professional tasks for the benefit of your native Vitebsk region.

Deputy Prosecutor General of the Republic of Belarus

State Counselor of Justice, 3rd Class

A.V. Dubov