The prosecutor's office collegium discussed issues related to illegal actions concerning firearms

A meeting of the regional prosecutor's office collegium was held to review the results of the study of investigative and judicial practice and prosecutorial supervision practice in criminal cases and materials on illegal actions against firearms (Articles 294, 295 of the Criminal Code).

The collegium meeting was attended by prosecutors of cities and districts, the Vitebsk transport prosecutor, heads of city and district departments of internal affairs and the investigative committee, heads of the Department of Internal Affairs, the Investigative Committee for the Vitebsk region, the Vitebsk Regional Court, and the head of the Vitebsk garrison.

The relevance of this analysis is due to the fact that the illegal distribution and movement of firearms, ammunition, and explosives pose a threat to public safety as a whole, as well as to the life, health, rights, and legitimate interests of citizens, and create prerequisites for the commission of other serious and particularly serious crimes. In this regard, the fight against illegal arms trafficking should occupy a special place in the activities of law enforcement agencies.

The collegium noted that in 2018, 168 crimes related to illegal actions against firearms, ammunition, explosives, and explosive devices were registered in the region, which is twice the proportion of this type of socially dangerous act in the republic as a whole.

In order to stabilize the situation in this area, internal affairs bodies periodically conduct special comprehensive measures "Arsenal" aimed at intensifying the voluntary surrender, as well as the seizure of illegally stored weapons, ammunition, explosives from the population, and identifying and eliminating violations of the order of circulation of weapons and ammunition.

According to the results of last year's work, over 750 units of illegally stored weapons and more than 27 thousand units of ammunition were seized from citizens.

The consideration of the topic showed that during the investigation of criminal cases, measures are not always taken to comprehensively, fully, and objectively investigate the circumstances of the acquisition of firearms, ammunition, and explosives; there are errors in the qualification of the actions of the guilty persons.

The collegium of the regional prosecutor's office outlined ways to improve the level of prosecutorial supervision and the quality of preliminary investigation in criminal cases of this category.

Oksana Baleeva
Head of the Regional Prosecutor's Office Department
for Supervision of the Legality of Judicial Decisions in Criminal Cases