Results of Handling Appeals Summarized
One of the main criteria for evaluating the activities of any state body is the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens. The successful resolution of these tasks largely depends on how effectively the system of working with the population operates.
These requirements fully apply to the prosecutor's offices, which are entrusted with the functions of ensuring legality and the rule of law in the state.
It should be noted that in the past year alone, more than 6.5 thousand people applied to prosecutor's office employees during personal receptions. For the convenience of citizens, in the regional prosecutor's office (the only one in the republic), personal reception of citizens is carried out on weekdays from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and on weekends from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Also, in 2019, the regional prosecutor changed the procedure for personal reception of citizens and representatives of legal entities by his deputies. Thus, now it is possible to appeal the actions (decisions) of prosecutors of cities and districts, the Vitebsk transport prosecutor, as well as heads of structural divisions of the regional prosecutor's office (in areas supervised by the prosecutor's deputies) without prior appointment on established days and hours (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM or from 2:00 PM to 8:00 PM). More detailed information is available on the information stand of the regional prosecutor's office and on the websites of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee and the General Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Belarus.
The fact that in 2018 citizens and legal entities submitted more than 9.3 thousand written applications, a third of which were not within the competence of prosecutor's office employees, also testifies to the trust in the prosecutor's offices.
5.5 thousand appeals were directly resolved. Most appeals were resolved in the regional apparatus, prosecutor's offices of Vitebsk, Novopolotsk, Orsha, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Tolochin, Chashniki, Lepel, Gorodok districts.
Despite the fact that there is a decrease in the number of resolved appeals in the region, their satisfaction rate is increasing and amounts to almost 30%. The highest proportion of satisfied appeals is in the prosecutor's offices of: Sharkovshchina (68.8%), Postavy (64.2%), Lepel (61.6%), Liozno (61.4%), Gorodok (60.9%), Dokshitsy (57.1%), Tolochin (53.2%), Beshenkovichi (52.8%) districts, which should be brought to the attention of the heads of local authorities and law enforcement agencies.
The most frequent complaints concerned the actions (decisions) of inquiry bodies (over 1.4 thousand appeals resolved) and investigators of the Investigative Committee (over 600 appeals). The main reasons for their satisfaction are incomplete checks on crime reports and messages, and biased investigations. Most of these appeals were reviewed by the regional apparatus, the prosecutor's offices of Vitebsk, Novopolotsk, Orsha, Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Chashniki districts.
Over 1.0 thousand appeals regarding supervision over the execution of legislation were resolved. Most often, complaints concerned the actions (decisions) of bodies conducting administrative proceedings and decisions on administrative liability.
Most satisfied appeals regarding compliance with labor legislation concerned untimely payment of wages, unjustified deductions, and unlawful disciplinary actions.
For example, thanks to the intervention of the Novopolotsk prosecutor's office, a former employee of a limited liability company was issued a work book and received final payment upon dismissal. Also, by order of the deputy city prosecutor, the head of the company was brought to administrative responsibility under Part 1 of Article 9.19 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus in the form of a fine of 2 basic units.
Over 70 complaints were reviewed regarding the implementation of legislation on appeals from citizens and legal entities, about 10% of which were found to be justified. Unfortunately, there are still cases of improper review of appeals, failure to notify applicants of decisions made, and failure to explain the procedure for appealing responses.
For example, the Polotsk District Prosecutor's Office brought the chairman of the Polotsk District Committee of Trade Unions of Agro-Industrial Complex Workers to administrative responsibility under Article 9.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus for violations of the said legislation, expressed in the failure to notify the applicant of the decisions made on his appeals.
Citizens and legal entities often apply to prosecutor's offices for the protection of their rights in court. Thus, last year, prosecutors filed over 2.0 thousand applications with general courts and over 300 lawsuits with economic courts.
In total, in 2018, prosecutors took prosecutorial response measures based on the review of 1484 appeals from individuals and legal entities.
Deputy Headof the Organizational and Control Department
of the Vitebsk Region Prosecutor's OfficeS.L. Zaitseva