"The Prosecutor's Office of Vitebsk Region Pays Constant Attention to Handling Citizens' Appeals"
Working with appeals is one of the priority areas in the activities of all state bodies and is aimed at improving people's quality of life, maximally facilitating the resolution of issues that citizens face in their daily lives.
The country is constantly improving legislation to ensure the accessibility, simplicity, and efficiency of solving urgent problems for every person. Properly organized work with appeals is an effective lever in ensuring the balance of interests between the state and society.
In 2016, the prosecutor's offices of Vitebsk region received 6,174 appeals from citizens and legal entities, of which 4,355 were resolved directly by prosecutors, with 1,610, or 26% of the resolved appeals, being satisfied.
As before, one-third of the received applications do not fall within the competence of the prosecutor's office, and therefore are forwarded for consideration to other authorized bodies.
Regarding the content of the appeals, most of them concerned issues of the quality of investigation and inquiry, supervision over the execution of legislation, including administrative and labor legislation, and supervision over the legality of court decisions in criminal and civil cases.
In each case, prosecutorial staff carefully studied people's problems and took necessary measures to restore violated rights of citizens.
For example, the Beshenkovichi District Prosecutor's Office received an appeal from the head of an exemplary ensemble regarding the non-payment of her salary for August 2016.
The inspection found that the reason for the non-payment of salary was the applicant's failure to conduct rehearsals with the ensemble during the specified period.
According to the records in the work log, the ensemble leader did not conduct rehearsal sessions with the ensemble members in August 2016, but she did carry out organizational and creative work: preparing and arranging parts, listening to vocal and instrumental material, studying literature, etc.
Paragraph 28 of the Regulations on a Non-Professional (Amateur) Artistic Collective in the Republic of Belarus, approved by Resolution No. 34 of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus dated September 26, 2008, states that the working time of the head of an amateur collective, in addition to conducting individual, group, and collective rehearsals, also includes educational and creative, organizational and creative, concert and stage work with the collective, self-preparation, work with specialized literature, repertoire selection, and more.
Under these circumstances, the decision to refuse to accrue and pay the said employee's salary for August 2016 was unfounded and contrary to law, as it did not take into account other work performed by her, which falls within her duties and should be included in the working time.
As a result of the inspection, the district prosecutor issued an order to the head of the Department of Ideological Work, Culture, and Youth Affairs of the Beshenkovichi District Executive Committee, which was executed. The applicant was paid the corresponding salary.
In total, following the review of applications from citizens and legal entities, the regional prosecutor's offices prepared 1621 acts of prosecutorial response, including 5 criminal cases initiated, 141 protests filed, 99 submissions made, 121 orders issued, 28 disciplinary proceedings initiated, 8 administrative offense protocols drawn up, 4 decisions on administrative liability issued, 46 individuals officially warned about the inadmissibility of violating the law, and 1016 lawsuits filed.
At the same time, some citizens, by submitting multiple applications, attempt to pressure state bodies into making decisions in their favor, and to obtain privileges and advantages not provided for by law. As practice shows, for some individuals, constant correspondence with various departments has turned into a peculiar hobby. A significant amount of employee time is spent on reviewing such applications, which, in turn, can affect the quality of consideration of other incoming legitimate applications. Furthermore, given that the activities of state structures are financed from the budget, such correspondence leads to their irrational use, harming the financial interests of the state.
For example, last year, one resident of Vitebsk made 48 entries in the books of remarks and suggestions of the regional prosecutor's office and the Vitebsk city prosecutor's office, most of which contained questions not within the competence of these bodies.
At the same time, it should be reminded to such citizens that, in accordance with Article 19 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus, expenses incurred by organizations in connection with the systematic submission (three or more times within a year) of unsubstantiated applications to the same organization, from the same applicant, as well as applications containing knowingly false information (amounts payable to experts and other specialists involved in the consideration of applications, postal expenses, expenses related to on-site review of applications, and other expenses, excluding payment for the working time of employees reviewing applications), may be recovered from applicants through court proceedings in accordance with the law.
In 2016, the regional prosecutor's offices received 6684 citizens for personal appointments. Of these, 887 citizens and representatives of legal entities were received at their place of residence and work, 1558 by prosecutors personally, 164 arrested individuals, and 303 individuals serving sentences.
In particular, the heads of the regional prosecutor's office visited all regions of Vitebsk Oblast, where they held receptions for citizens at their places of work and residence. For example, at the Correctional Institution "IK-12" of the Department of Corrections of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus for Vitebsk Oblast, the branch of BSTU "Vitebsk State Technological College", the Orsha branch "Teplichny" of RUE "Vitebskenergo", Vitebsk GPLKHO, JSC "Vozrozhdenie", Sennensky, Verkhnedvinsky and Rossony District Executive Committees, Ullsky (Beshenkovichi District), Ivansky (Chashniki District), Oboletsky (Tolochin District) and Velikodoletsky (Ushachi District) rural Councils, and others.
Joint on-site receptions of the heads of the regional prosecutor's office and the State Control Committee of Vitebsk Oblast were also held, with "direct telephone lines" in Shumilinsky, Dubrovensky, and Dokshitsy District Executive Committees.
In addition, employees of the regional apparatus, city and district prosecutor's offices constantly participate in the work of public reception offices, which operate on the basis of local authorities.
The prosecutorial staff of the region will continue their systematic work aimed at the high-quality consideration of applications from citizens and legal entities, the restoration of their violated rights, and ensuring the openness and accessibility of the prosecutor's offices for applicants.
Senior Assistant Prosecutor of Vitebsk Region
for Supervision of Compliance with Legislation
on Citizens' Appeals
Irina Tavtyn