The results of the prosecutor's office's work with appeals have been summarized

One of the main criteria for evaluating the activities of any government body is the protection of the rights and legitimate interests of citizens. The successful resolution of these tasks largely depends on the effectiveness of the system of working with the public.

These requirements fully apply to the prosecution authorities, 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, more than 6.5 thousand people applied to prosecutors for personal appointments alone. For the convenience of citizens, personal appointments are held at the regional prosecutor's office (the only one in the republic) on weekdays from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and on weekends from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

In 2019, the prosecutor of the region also changed the procedure for personal appointments of citizens and legal entity representatives by his deputies. Thus, it is now possible to appeal the actions (decisions) of city and district prosecutors, the Vitebsk transport prosecutor, as well as heads of structural divisions of the regional prosecutor's office (in areas supervised by the deputy regional prosecutor) without prior appointment on designated 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 Prosecutor General'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 outside the competence of prosecutors, also testifies to the trust in the prosecution authorities.

5.5 thousand applications were resolved directly. The largest number of applications were resolved in the regional apparatus, and the prosecutor's offices of Vitebsk, Novopolotsk, Orsha, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Tolochin, Chashniki, Lepel, and Gorodok districts.

Despite the fact that a decrease in the number of resolved applications is noted in the region, their satisfaction rate is increasing and amounts to almost 30%. The highest proportion of satisfied applications is in the prosecutor's offices of:

Sharkovshchyna (68.8%), Postavy (64.2%), Lepel (61.6%), Liozno (61.4%), Gorodok (60.9%), Dokshytsy (57.1%), Tolochyn (53.2%), Beshenkovichi (52.8%) districts, which should be noted by the heads of local authorities and law enforcement agencies.

The most frequently appealed actions (decisions) were those 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 investigations of applications and reports of crimes, and bias in the investigation. The largest number of such appeals were considered in the regional apparatus, and in the prosecutor's offices of Vitebsk, Novopolotsk, Orsha, Polotsk, Vitebsk, and Chashniki districts.

Over 1.0 thousand appeals were resolved regarding supervision of legislation enforcement. Most frequently appealed were actions (decisions) of bodies conducting administrative proceedings, and decisions on bringing to administrative responsibility.

The majority of satisfied appeals concerning compliance with labor legislation related to untimely payment of wages, unjustified deductions, and unlawful prosecution.

For example, thanks to the intervention of the Novopolotsk prosecutor's office, a former employee of a limited liability company was issued a work record book and received final settlement upon dismissal. Also, by the resolution of the Deputy Prosecutor of the city, the head of the company was brought to administrative responsibility under Part 1 of Article 9.19 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Republic of Belarus, fined 2 base units.

Over 70 complaints were considered regarding the enforcement of legislation on citizens' and legal entities' appeals, about 10% of which were found to be justified. Unfortunately, cases of improper consideration of appeals, failure to notify applicants of decisions made, and failure to explain the procedure for appealing responses still occur.

For instance, the Polotsk District Prosecutor's Office, for violations of the specified legislation, which consisted of failure to notify the applicant of decisions made regarding

his appeals, the chairman of the Polotsk district committee of trade unions of the agro-industrial complex was brought to administrative responsibility under Art. 9.13 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Republic of Belarus.

Citizens and legal entities quite often apply to the prosecutor's offices with issues of protecting their rights in court. Thus, in the past year, prosecutors filed more than 2.0 thousand applications to general courts, and more than 300 claims to economic courts.

In total, in 2018, as a result of considering 1484 appeals from individuals and legal entities, prosecutors took prosecutorial response measures.

Deputy Head of the Organizational and Control Department of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office Svetlana Zaitseva