The Prosecutor's Office of Vitebsk Region pays constant attention to handling citizens' appeals.
Working with appeals is one of the priority areas in the activities of all state bodies and is aimed at improving the quality of life for people, maximizing the facilitation of resolving issues that citizens face in their daily lives.
In the country, legislation is constantly being improved to ensure accessibility, simplicity, and prompt resolution of urgent problems for each individual. Properly organized work with appeals is an effective tool in ensuring a balance between the interests of the state and society.
In 2016, the prosecutor's office of Vitebsk Region received 6174 appeals from citizens and legal entities, of which 4355 were resolved directly by prosecutors, with 1610, or 26% of the resolved cases, being satisfied.
Still, one-third of the received applications do not fall under the jurisdiction of the prosecutor's office, and therefore are forwarded for consideration to other authorized bodies.
Regarding the content of the appeals, most of them addressed issues related to the quality of investigations and inquiries, supervision of the enforcement of legislation, including administrative and labor legislation, and supervision of the legality of court rulings in criminal and civil cases.
In each case, the prosecutor's staff carefully studied the problems of the people and took necessary measures to restore the violated rights of citizens.
For instance, the prosecutor's office of the Beshankovichi district received an appeal from the head of the Exemplary Ensemble regarding the non-payment of her salary for August 2016.
The investigation established that the reason for the non-payment of the salary was the applicant's failure to conduct rehearsals with the ensemble during the specified period.
According to the records in the work log of the ensemble's leader, no rehearsals with the ensemble members were conducted in August 2016; however, she was engaged in organizational and creative work: preparing and arranging parts, listening to song and instrumental material, studying literature, etc.
Paragraph 28 of the Regulation on Non-Professional (Amateur) Artistic Creativity Groups in the Republic of Belarus, approved by the resolution of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus dated September 26, 2008, No. 34, states that in the volume of working time of the leader of the amateur group, in addition to conducting individual, group, and collective rehearsals, educational-creative, organizational-creative, and concert-stage work with the group, self-preparation, work with special literature, repertoire selection, and other activities are also taken into account.
Under such circumstances, the decision to refuse to calculate and pay the specified employee's salary for August 2016 was unfounded and contrary to the law, as her other work, which falls within her duties and should be accounted for in the volume of working time, was not taken into account.
As a result of the investigation, the district prosecutor issued an order to the head of the ideological work, culture, and youth affairs department of the Beshankovichi district executive committee, which was executed. The applicant was paid the corresponding salary.
In total, based on the results of considering appeals from citizens and legal entities, the prosecutor's offices of the region prepared 1621 acts of prosecutorial response, including 5 criminal cases initiated, 141 protests filed, 99 submissions made, 121 orders issued, 28 disciplinary proceedings initiated, 8 protocols on administrative offenses drawn up, 4 decisions on bringing to administrative responsibility made, and 46 individuals officially warned about the inadmissibility of violations of the law, with 1016 lawsuits filed.
At the same time, some citizens attempt to exert pressure on state bodies to make decisions in their favor by submitting multiple applications, seeking privileges and advantages not provided for by law. As practice shows, for some individuals, constant correspondence with various agencies has turned into a peculiar hobby. A significant amount of time of employees is spent on considering such appeals, which, in turn, may affect the quality of consideration of other justified appeals. Furthermore, considering that the financing of state structures is carried out at the expense of budget funds, such correspondence leads to their irrational use, causing harm to the financial interests of the state.
For example, last year, one resident of Vitebsk left 48 entries in the books of comments and suggestions at the prosecutor's office of the region and the prosecutor's office of Vitebsk city, most of which contained questions not related to the jurisdiction of the mentioned bodies.
At the same time, it should be reminded to such citizens that according to Article 19 of the Law of the Republic of Belarus, expenses incurred by organizations in connection with the consideration of systematically submitted (three or more times within a year) unfounded appeals to the same organization from the same applicant, as well as appeals containing knowingly false information (amounts to be paid to experts and other specialists involved in the consideration of appeals, postal expenses, expenses related to travel to the place of consideration of the appeal, and other expenses, except for the payment of working time of employees considering the appeals), may be recovered from the applicants in court in accordance with the law.
In 2016, the prosecutor's offices of the region received 6684 citizens during personal receptions. Of these, 887 citizens and representatives of legal entities were received at their place of residence and work, 1558 personally by prosecutors, 164 arrested individuals, and 303 persons serving sentences.
In particular, the heads of the prosecutor's office of the region visited all regions of Vitebsk, where they held receptions for citizens at their places of work and residence. For example, at the IUE "IK-12" of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Belarus in Vitebsk Region, at the branch of the Belarusian State Technological University "Vitebsk State Technological College", at the Orsha branch of the "Greenhouse" RUP "Vitebskenergo", at the Vitebsk State Production and Technical Association, at OJSC "Revival", in the Senno, Verkhnedvinsk, and Rossony district executive committees, in the Ulyan district (Beshankovichi district), in the Ivan district (Chashniki district), in the Obolets district (Tolochin district), and in the Velikodolets district (Ushachi district) rural councils, and others.
Joint field receptions of the heads of the prosecutor's office of the region and the State Control Committee of Vitebsk Region were also held, with "direct telephone lines" conducted in the Shumilino, Dubrovno, and Dokshitsy district executive committees.
In addition, employees of the regional apparatus and the prosecutors' offices of cities and districts constantly participate in the work of public reception offices that operate on the basis of local authorities.
The prosecutor's staff will continue systematic work aimed at the quality consideration of appeals from citizens and legal entities, restoring their violated rights, and ensuring the openness and accessibility of the prosecutor's offices for applicants.
Senior Assistant to the Prosecutor of Vitebsk Region
for supervision of the enforcement of legislation
on citizens' appeals
Irina Tavtyn