The safety of citizens' lives and health is a top priority for the city prosecutor's office

On November 1, 2016, the Vitebsk City Prosecutor's Office, chaired by Yu.V. Romanovsky, held a coordination meeting on combating crime and corruption. The meeting was attended by representatives of the Vitebsk City Prosecutor's Office, the Vitebsk Regional State Control Committee, local executive authorities, as well as heads of the city's night entertainment venues (Hunter bar, Teatralnoye cafe, Sobranie cafe, Planeta Entertainment Center, Vintage Entertainment Center, etc.), where the most crimes were committed.

During the inspections conducted by the Vitebsk City Prosecutor's Office, it was established that there are instances of inadequate measures taken by the administrations of night entertainment venues to prevent crimes and offenses, as well as to analyze the causes and conditions contributing to them. There is a lack of interaction with the Internal Affairs bodies aimed at obtaining information about undesirable visitors, and there are problems with the quality of video surveillance recordings of events, which hinders the disclosure of crimes.

The coordination meeting noted that the majority of crimes in entertainment venues are typically committed by persons under the influence of alcohol, and by previously convicted individuals. There are also instances of crimes committed by officials of the establishments against visitors.

For 9 months of 2016 (9 months of 2015), 802 (736) crimes were committed in public places in the city, of which 40 (51) were grave and especially grave.

Approximately 50 crimes were committed on the territory of night entertainment venues. In one of the city's entertainment venues, a security guard beat up a visitor, and a week later committed sexual violence against a female visitor. For example, in the Teatralnoye cafe, during a fight between visitors, one of the participants died due to injuries incompatible with life. In the Hunter bar, Vintage and Passage nightclubs, bodily harm was also inflicted on visitors.

Also, based on the results of the meeting, a decision was made to create a working group from

representatives of the city prosecutor's office, district internal affairs departments, the Department of Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, and other interested departments, the purpose of which is to conduct an additional inspection of entertainment venues by November 25, 2016, to study the measures taken by the heads of the venues aimed at preventing situations that threaten the life and health, as well as the property of visitors of all entertainment venues. Based on the results of the group's work and the conducted analysis, a final decision will be made on changing the operating hours of all entertainment establishments in the city, concluding agreements for the security of establishments during operating hours with the Department of Security of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus, and installing high-quality video surveillance.

The safety of citizens is a priority in the activities of the Vitebsk City Prosecutor's Office.

Vitebsk City Prosecutor's Office