Prosecutor's Office on requirements for electronic citizen appeals

February 9, 2024

In the Republic of Belarus, significant attention is paid to various forms of working with the public: regulatory legal acts are adopted, systematic work is carried out to implement them in law enforcement practice, the number of publications and speeches on this issue is growing, etc. One of the key areas of this work is the improvement of the procedure for submitting and considering appeals from citizens and legal entities. And this is not accidental, given the role this institution plays in the life of society.

The current Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 18, 2011 N 300-Z "On Appeals of Citizens and Legal Entities" is the third comprehensive legislative act regulating the procedure for considering appeals during the years of sovereignty. With its adoption, the development of this institution has not stopped, as evidenced by the adoption of a number of other regulatory legal acts on the specified topic, as well as new versions of the Law.

The most significant innovation in the development of this institution can be considered the emergence of a new type of appeal - electronic appeals.

Electronic appeals are one of the forms of working with appeals from citizens and legal entities. Such appeals are sent to the organization's email address or posted in a special section on the organization's official website on the global computer network Internet. At the same time, the responsibility for considering electronic appeals is primarily assigned to state bodies and organizations.

According to Art. 25 of the Law, electronic appeals must contain the same information as written appeals, but instead of a personal signature, an email address must be indicated. At the same time, the withdrawal of an electronic appeal is carried out by submitting a written application or sending an application in electronic form in the same way as it was submitted.

an electronic appeal has been sent.

Considering that electronic appeals are often sent by representatives of applicants, the Law provides that electronic appeals submitted by representatives of applicants must be accompanied by electronic copies of documents confirming their authority. If this obligation is not met, the electronic appeal may be left without substantive consideration in accordance with Article 15 of the Law.

I would also like to remind you that in accordance with Art. 12 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus of July 18, 2011 N 300-Z (as amended) "On Appeals of Citizens and Legal Entities", written appeals of citizens, with the exception of remarks and (or) suggestions made in the book of remarks and suggestions, must contain: the name and (or) address of the organization or the position of the person to whom the appeal is sent; the surname, first name, patronymic (if any) or initials of the citizen, the address of their place of residence (place of stay); a statement of the essence of the appeal; the personal signature of the citizen (citizens).

Appeals are made in Belarusian or Russian.

The text of the appeal must be legible. Handwritten appeals must be written in a clear, legible handwriting. The use of obscene or offensive words or expressions in appeals is not allowed.

Documents confirming the authority of the applicants' representatives must be attached to the appeals submitted by them.

In addition, appeals must contain information about the results of their previous consideration, with attached (if available) documents confirming this information.

In case of non-compliance of written appeals with the above requirements of the legislation, the appeal may be left without substantive consideration.

For reference!

For 12 months of 2020, the district prosecutor's office received 64 appeals from citizens and legal entities, including electronic ones, of which 30 were resolved directly by the prosecutor's office staff. Of the resolved appeals, 8 appeals were fully satisfied by the district prosecutor's office, 7 appeals were partially satisfied. 27 appeals

referred for resolution to other departments. 7 appeals in the reporting period were left without substantive consideration.

Of the 25 appeals from citizens resolved directly by the district prosecutor's office, 2 were on issues of supervision over the enforcement of legislation, 11 on issues of supervision during pre-trial proceedings, 1 on issues of supervision over the legality of court decisions in civil cases, 6 on issues of compliance with the law during the execution of criminal sentences, 4 on other issues, 1 on clarification of legislative requirements.

In addition to resolving written appeals from citizens, prosecutors received 45 citizens in person during the specified period, of whom the district prosecutor personally received 2. 2 appeals were received at the place of residence and work of citizens, 9 at the place of serving sentences.

The prosecutor's office conducted 2 inspections of compliance with the legislation on citizens' appeals during the 12 months of 2020. Based on the results of these inspections, the district prosecutor's office submitted 2 submissions, as a result of which 2 officials were brought to disciplinary responsibility.

Deputy Prosecutor

of Gluboksky District

Ya.I. Sosnovsky