Weigh the pros and cons

In the course of yesterday's plenary session of the Supreme Council, deputies in the first reading adopted legislative initiatives regulating the activities of the prosecutor's office. Legislations in the regime of legislative necessity were introduced to the parliament by the President. The main goal is to restore the balance of the law enforcement system violated in 2012 by means of creation of the Investigative Committee. The parliamentarians conceptually supported the president's opinion - to return to the prosecutor's office its primordial functions of maintaining public prosecution in court and overseeing the criminal investigation process. Meanwhile, legislators drew attention to a number of ambiguous moments of the legislations, on which it is necessary to find a weighted consolidated decision.

In connection with this, the second meeting of the working group set up under the parliamentary committee on legislation was held today during the consideration of the legislations. It includes deputies of the responsible committee, representatives of the prosecutor's office, the Supreme and Arbitration Courts, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ombudsman for Human Rights. The meeting participants discussed amendments to the legislations, which cause the most discussion.

In particular, there was a proposal to give the prosecutor the right to reclaim the court decisions that came into force. In the opinion of representatives of the judiciary, the adoption of this rule will lead to the establishment of control over the prosecutor's office for the courts and, as a consequence, to the violation of the principle of equality of parties in the trial. In turn, representatives of the prosecutor's office are sure that this will help to identify existing gaps in the legal environment, correct mistakes, and raise the level of legality.

The deputy of the responsible Committee on Legislation, Defense, Security, Peacekeeping Activity, Law Enforcement Bodies, Protection of Rights and Freedoms of Citizens, Vitaly Kalin summarized the results of the meeting.