The Prosecutor's Office of the Vitebsk Region discussed the results of the analysis of investigative practice and the state of prosecutorial supervision in criminal cases of crimes committed by foreign citizens and stateless persons

Under the chairmanship of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor Vadim Sushchinsky, a coordination meeting on combating crime and corruption was held via videoconference.

On the agenda: the results of the analysis of investigative practice and the state of prosecutorial supervision in criminal cases and materials on crimes committed by foreign citizens and stateless persons.

The discussion was attended by the heads of the regional Internal Affairs Directorate, KGB Directorate, Investigative Committee, State Forensic Examination Committee, as well as prosecutors of cities and districts, heads of investigative units and internal affairs bodies, heads of the Polotsk Border Detachment and the Smorgon Border Group.

"The number of crimes committed by foreign citizens does not exceed 3% of the total crime rate. From this seemingly small number, the number of grave and especially grave crimes has increased," Vadim Sushchinsky noted, drawing the attention of those present.

"The relevance of the issue under consideration is also associated with the presence of border territories in the Vitebsk region, as well as a significant event in our country - the holding of the II European Games 2019," the regional prosecutor emphasized.

For reference: in 2014, 199 such crimes were completed, in 2018 – 164. However, in 2018, 3.4% of especially grave crimes and 5% of grave crimes were committed by citizens of foreign states or with their complicity.

The absolute majority of these crimes are committed by citizens of CIS countries (87-94%). Of the 127 foreign citizens who committed crimes, 101 (79.5%) are over 30 years old, and 82 (64.5%) had no permanent place of work or study in the Republic of Belarus.

During the discussion, the meeting participants dwelled in detail on the identified shortcomings in the activities of law enforcement agencies in this area.

For example, there are cases when investigative bodies initiate search cases not in a timely manner. There are isolated violations of the requirements of the legislation on operational-search activities when carrying out the search for the specified category of persons.

If there are grounds, investigative

for a long time, subdivisions have not initiated the procedure for transferring criminal cases to the competent authorities of foreign states, which leads to the expiration of the statute of limitations for bringing persons to criminal responsibility.

Cases of sending requests to the competent authorities of foreign states for legal assistance long after the decision to suspend the preliminary investigation has been made, as well as untimely resumption of the preliminary investigation after receiving responses from foreign states to international requests, are common.

"The issues considered remain relevant and require closer coordination from the heads of the region's law enforcement agencies," the regional prosecutor summarized.

Following the discussion, a decision was made aimed at increasing the effectiveness of departmental control and prosecutorial supervision over the consideration of applications and reports, and the investigation of criminal cases of this category.

R. Chudakov, D. Merguryev.