The regional prosecutor's office has initiated a criminal case under Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code against two residents of the Polotsk district for the theft of metal products from a cemetery

During the investigation of the inspection materials, it was established that Igor and Andrey (names changed - author), being employees of one of the organizations in the Polotsk district in the funeral services sector, also engaged in scrap metal collection in their free time.

The thirst for easy money led them to the cemetery this time. Thus, at the end of 2018, while at the "Lesnoye" cemetery in the Polotsk district, they jointly stole part of a metal fence from a grave, consisting of 4 posts and 4 chains of various lengths, causing material damage of at least 40 Belarusian rubles. Igor sold the stolen property to a scrap metal collection point in Polotsk, giving Andrey 15 Belarusian rubles.

During the inspection, Igor and Andrey persistently tried to mislead the inquiry body, claiming that Igor committed the theft alone, and considering the amount of stolen property, his actions were only administratively punishable.

However, during a thorough check at the regional prosecutor's office, it was taken into account that Igor and Andrey knew each other at the time of the theft, were employees of the same organization, and performed work together at the "Lesnoye" cemetery in the Polotsk district in the absence of other persons. In addition, the theft of property was committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, since Andrey indicated during the inspection that he was aware of Igor's intention to steal metal fences on the day of their joint work at the cemetery.

During the performance of joint work, Igor briefly left his workplace, after which they jointly loaded the metal products from the cemetery territory into his car for the purpose of selling them for scrap metal, and the proceeds from the sale were divided between them in almost equal shares.

In this regard, the regional prosecutor's office has initiated a criminal case against the "unfortunate" scrap metal collectors under Part 2 of Article 205 of the Criminal Code in connection with the commission of theft by a group of persons.

Prosecutor of the Department for Supervision of Inquiry and Operational-Investigative Activities
A. Zaikin