An interdepartmental meeting was held at the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Department of Internal Affairs with the participation of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office
In his speech, the Deputy Head of the Internal Affairs Department, Alexey Shakhovich, noted that the internal affairs bodies, implementing the requirements of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the Fundamentals of Prevention of Offenses," carry out a set of measures to send citizens suffering from chronic alcoholism and violating public order to medical and labor dispensaries; able-bodied and unemployed citizens leading an antisocial lifestyle; persons obliged to reimburse the expenses incurred by the state for the maintenance of children who violate labor discipline. However, when considering such cases in court, the requirements of the internal affairs bodies are not always satisfied. There are cases when, after the court refuses to send a citizen to a medical and labor dispensary, he again commits administrative offenses while intoxicated, which necessitates work on preparing materials for the court, entailing unjustified costs of time and resources. He drew attention to the problematic issues of preparing materials for sending able-bodied unemployed citizens leading an antisocial lifestyle to medical and labor dispensaries, which hinder their timely and proper consideration by the court, and noted that the participation of prosecutors in the consideration of civil cases of this category would ensure a higher level of legality and protection of citizens' rights.
The Deputy Chairman of the Vitebsk Regional Court, Oleg Fyodorov, reported on the judicial practice in cases of this category, noting that the reasons for refusing to send able-bodied unemployed citizens to medical and labor dispensaries were errors made by the permanent
by the commissions coordinating efforts to promote employment of the population when deciding on the need to send an able-bodied unemployed citizen leading an antisocial lifestyle to a therapeutic and preventive facility, without taking into account all restrictions established by law. He also expressed his opinion on the need for prosecutors in cases of the specified category to participate in order to ensure oversight of the legality of court decisions, as well as compliance with current legislation by internal affairs bodies.The interdepartmental meeting was attended by Irina Titkova, Head of the Department for Supervision of the Legality of Court Decisions in Civil Cases of the Vitebsk Regional Prosecutor's Office, who noted the special importance of this measure for the prevention of offenses against persons who violate public order while intoxicated or under the influence of narcotic and other intoxicating substances, able-bodied unemployed citizens leading an antisocial lifestyle.
Despite the fulfillment of all the requirements of the Law during the preparation of materials, internal affairs bodies do not always provide the court with evidence sufficiently demonstrating the expediency of isolating a particular citizen in a therapeutic and preventive facility, due to which there are cases of courts issuing decisions to refuse to satisfy the demands of the internal affairs bodies. Taking into account that in accordance with Art. 393-9 of the Civil Procedure Code, cases of sending citizens to therapeutic and preventive facilities are considered by courts with the mandatory participation of a representative of the internal affairs bodies and the citizen whose application for referral to a therapeutic and preventive facility is being considered by the court, representatives of the internal affairs bodies need to more actively present evidence confirming the facts set out in the applications. Representatives of organizations, family members of the citizen, and other citizens who are witnesses to the behavior of the person in respect of whom the issue of referral to a therapeutic and preventive facility is being considered may also participate in the consideration of these cases. Often in such cases, the courtonly written evidence is submitted, witnesses are not summoned to court.
These cases are mainly considered without the participation of prosecutors. However, pursuant to Art. 61 of the Law, the Prosecutor General and prosecutors subordinate to him supervise the accurate and uniform enforcement of legislation on sending citizens to treatment and labor prophylaxis facilities and their stay therein. In addition, guided by Part 2 of Art. 81 of the Civil Procedure Code, prosecutors have the right to enter a case on their own initiative. Given the great importance of such a preventive measure as isolation in treatment and labor prophylaxis facilities for persons abusing alcohol and other intoxicating substances, violating public order, and leading an antisocial lifestyle, prosecutors participate in the consideration of such cases in circuit court sessions. Internal affairs bodies are not deprived of the opportunity to inform prosecutors about materials prepared for court and the need to ensure their participation in the consideration of these cases by the court.
In addition, Irina Titkova identified problematic issues in the execution of court decisions on restricting the legal capacity of citizens who abuse alcohol and place their families in difficult financial circumstances. Based on court decisions, guardians from among family members (mothers, spouses) are appointed to persons whose legal capacity is restricted. However, no preventive work is carried out with these persons thereafter, unless they are under preventive supervision in accordance with the requirements of Art. 28 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the Fundamentals of Crime Prevention Activities."
Guardians, who are entrusted with the duties of managing the income of a family member whose legal capacity is restricted, are left alone with persons abusing alcohol, which can lead to threats to the life and health of the guardian and other family members. It is believed that, by virtue of their official duties, for the purpose of preventing domestic violence
District inspectors are obliged to systematically visit such families and conduct preventive conversations with persons with limited legal capacity. Prosecutors primarily apply to courts with such statements, who can notify internal affairs bodies about a court decision to restrict the legal capacity of a citizen abusing alcoholic beverages. At the same time, prosecutors are also obliged, within the scope of their powers, to carry out preventive work with persons whose legal capacity is restricted due to abuse of alcoholic beverages. In addition, it is deemed necessary to include such persons in the list of Article 28 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus "On the Fundamentals of Crime Prevention Activities".
Participants of the meeting exchanged views on issues of interaction between internal affairs bodies, standing commissions for coordinating employment promotion activities, established by district (city) executive committees (local administrations), and prosecution bodies. Following the results of the interdepartmental meeting, an appropriate decision was made.
Head of the Department for Supervision of Compliance with the Law of Judicial Decisions in Civil Cases I.N. Titkova