An interdepartmental meeting on compliance with the law during criminal investigations was held at the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office

On November 3, an interdepartmental meeting was held at the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office on issues of legality compliance in the investigation of criminal cases where accused persons have absconded from the criminal prosecution authority, on criminal cases of missing persons, as well as on the enforcement of legislation on operational-search activities in the search for persons who have committed crimes and the establishment of the whereabouts of missing citizens.

The study of the practice of declaring wanted persons who have absconded from preliminary investigation bodies and courts showed that the criminal prosecution authorities of the Vitebsk region are carrying out significant work in this direction.

As a result of the search activities carried out by the Internal Affairs bodies of the region for the specified category of persons, the whereabouts of 597 wanted criminals who had absconded from preliminary investigation bodies were established in 2014, and 438 persons in 9 months of 2015.

While noting some positive dynamics in the search for persons who have committed crimes throughout the region, it should be noted that there are many miscalculations and omissions in the activities of preliminary investigation bodies and operational units engaged in search work, the elimination of which would allow for more significant successes in the fight against crime.

Untimely selection of a preventive measure in the form of detention, late declaration

search, formalism in conducting operational-search activities and investigative actions, and other shortcomings negatively affect the final result of law enforcement activities. A significant number of accused and convicted persons still evade justice for a long time, which makes it impossible to guarantee the protection of law-abiding citizens who have suffered from criminal encroachments, as guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of Belarus, and to implement the principle of the inevitability of criminal punishment for committed criminal acts.

 The analysis conducted showed that criminal prosecution bodies pay attention to the issues of searching for missing persons, and significant work is carried out in this direction annually.

Last year, out of 156 persons put on the wanted list, the search for 99 was terminated; in 9 months of 2015, 59 missing persons were found out of 105 declared since the beginning of the year.

However, the number of wanted persons remains consistently high; over the last three years, there has been no significant decrease in their number (2012 – 420 persons; 2013 – 442 persons; 2014 – 438 persons). At the same time, it should be taken into account that for almost every such person, the possibility that they could have become a victim of a crime or an accident cannot be excluded, which requires constant coordinated work of the competent authorities.

Based on the results of the meeting, prosecutors, internal affairs bodies, and the Investigative Committee were set tasks to take additional measures aimed at eliminating existing shortcomings and improving work efficiency.

Head of the Regional Prosecutor's Office R. Chudakov