Parallels of lawmaking

A full prosecutor's supervision over the activities of investigative bodies and the right of the prosecutor to initiate and investigate criminal cases, including those concerning investigators, can restrain the growing of violations of the law that they are permitted to do. About this Prosecutor General of Russia Yuri Chaika spoke at the "government hour" in the Federation Council April 18. He explained that the number of violations of the law revealed by prosecutors at the pre-trial stage increased to 5.2 million. Almost 70 percent of cases in Russia are considered in a simplified manner, which does not involve either lengthy investigations or rehabilitation of the defendants. Meanwhile, in the cases of investigators, the number justified by the court increased by a quarter, and the total number of persons eligible for rehabilitation exceeded 13 thousand for 2017. The investigation is still conducted with the excess of the terms established by law for a large number of criminal cases.

The Federation Council agreed that the return of the functions of control over the investigation would increase the effectiveness of the work of both the prosecutor's office and investigative bodies.

Yuri Chaika said that the labor market and the protection of rights of entrepreneurs are under special control of the agency. Thanks to the efforts of prosecutors, more than half a million workers have been paid 26 billion rubles of wage arrears. Entrepreneurs returned debts of 46 billion rubles. At the same time, administrative barriers to doing business remain in Russia. Last year, 42 percent of unscheduled inspections of entrepreneurs were not coordinated with prosecutors. Almost 13 thousand officials of controlling bodies were brought to account for the committed violations.

Protection of the social rights of citizens is no less important than economic indicators. The number of orphans in Russia has decreased in 2017, teenage crime decreased, and material support for families has increased. The practice of prosecutorial supervision shows that problems remain in this sphere. The situation with provision of housing in the country of orphans was tense - apartments are not provided for more than 160 thousand children. The prosecutor's office increased the financing of this direction in the Krasnoyarsk and Perm, Astrakhan, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl regions and other regions.

Another important topic for the Prosecutor General's Office is the protection of children from harmful information. Declination of minors to suicide and suicide attempts are registered in the Udmurt Republic, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Arkhangelsk, Voronezh regions and in other regions. Access to websites promoting the use of drugs, violence and other unlawful acts was banned on claims of prosecutors. The Prosecutor General's Office suggested that the Minister of Communications develop additional mechanisms to protect minors from harmful content on the Internet.

The Prosecutor General in his report drew attention to the increase of supervision in the sphere of housing and communal services. The situation in this sphere improved, there are cases of overstatement of tariffs.

The reasons for this situation are the failure to follow the order of work, violations in the selection process of contractors, the theft of collected funds. The Prosecutor General's Office instructed the Ministry of Construction to tighten control over the expenditure of funds collected for major repairs. This issue is under control of the President.

Commenting on the report of the Prosecutor General, Federation Council Chairman Valentina Matvienko noted that there is a general tendency in the regions: prosecutors monitor the order, but do not take responsibility for socio-economic development.

She proposed to include an indicator of the effectiveness of socio-economic development in assessing the work of prosecutors.